CCTV in Bristol City
As reported in Info4 Security, new research by Synetics shows that attitudes towards CCTV surveillance have changed in the UK. 76% of people interviewed said they felt safer in areas covered by CCTV and 62% wanted to see more CCTV cameras in their area. This is a marked change since the riots that spread throughout the country in the summer of 2011. Many people are now aware that CCTV footage helped the police identify rioters and then apprehend them. It can be very tricky to identify individuals in a crowd, but CCTV footage allows police to replay incidents as many times as necessary so that arrests can be made with confidence that the right person has been caught.
The Role of CCTV in the Bristol Riots
By the end of October this year, 127 people in Bristol had been captured on camera. 56 of them were identified and then charged by the police. The emergency control centre manager at Bristol’s City Council said,
“Without CCTV footage it would have been virtually impossible to identify the individuals involved in the riots and gather the necessary evidence.
In a crowd of 200 people it can be difficult to pinpoint individual actions but CCTV footage provided to the police can be replayed as many times as required to identify each individual responsible, and therefore provide critical evidence for investigations.”
The local council has worked hard with security solution specialists to provide CCTV data transfer that is immediate between the town’s camera systems and the local authorities and police forces, making it more likely that criminals are identified and brought to justice.
Bristol’s “Kingdom Gorilla” in Clifton, protected by BWS Standfast CCTV
Use CCTV for your Home or Business too
It is not just local authorities and city councils that use CCTV. Home and business owners can do so very effectively too. CCTV systems like these have three main benefits:
- It provides accurate evidence in the event of a break in or theft so that criminals can be identified and charged.
- It acts as a deterrent to potential criminals. If they see a property with CCTV, they are less likely to attack it, preferring to try elsewhere where there is less likelihood of being caught.
- It provides you, the property owner with peace of mind, especially if you have your CCTV footage monitored and maintained on a regular basis (which needn’t cost the earth!).
