Switching off CCTV has had no impact on crime, say police

Craven is currently the only local authority in Yorkshire and the Humber not to operate any CCTV cameras, and it is unlikely to see any in the near future.

The cameras were mainly based in Skipton’s car parks as a response to rising car crime but the council says improved security measures in vehicles and the success of awareness campaigns saw a fall in offending anyway.

“The decision – purely down to cost – was based on the fact we often asked how many convictions have we got because of evidence from the cameras and time after time it came back virtually none,” said Stacey Mitchell, the council’s community safety co-ordinator.

“In times of plenty it was something you could afford to keep going, but actually since then if anything crime has actually gone down.”

Critics of the intrusion of surveillance technology are likely to seize on the case to back up their call for fewer CCTV cameras, but police take a different view.

North Yorkshire Police’s temporary Deputy Chief Constable Sue Cross said: “In relation to the decision that was taken by the Craven District Council to switch off the CCTV cameras in 2009 and if this has impacted on crime in the area, the answer is no it hasn’t.

“There has in fact been a reduction in crime in that area if we compare the 18-month period prior to and post switch off.

“That said, I would emphasise that local authority CCTV is only one of the crime-fighting tools available to us, we still have access to and use CCTV from shops, pubs and clubs in the area in addition to other traditional methods of policing such as targeted patrols.

“If intelligence highlights that we have a particular problem, be it crime or antisocial behaviour, we also have the ability to use covert CCTV subject to meeting the criteria laid out within the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.”