The six North Wales Authorities and North Wales Police have appointed Superintendent Barry Jones to lead the transformation of CCTV across the region.
The majority of the existing public area CCTV systems, operated by the six Councils, were originally established in the 1990s. All the systems are in need of reinvestment to replace and modernise equipment that is coming to the end of its working life.
The six Authorities and North Wales Police have joined together to work on the project and in September successfully bid for £805,000 from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Invest to Save fund. The bid was extremely well received by WAG, and both WAG and the Welsh Local Government Association continue to offer support for the project.
Superintendent Barry Jones, North Wales Police, said:
“The objective of this project is to provide the best possible Community CCTV system for the people of North Wales. Public area CCTV has proved its worth in supporting the Police and other enforcement agencies in dealing with a wide range of crimes, from murder to fly tipping, and in reducing people’s fear of crime. However new technologies and new ways of doing things means that the opportunity exists to make Community CCTV not only much more effective but also, in this present climate, more cost efficient .”
Over the next few months, work will concentrate on:
- What the new system will do
- How it will work
- How it will be structured
- How it will be controlled
- Cost to establish and run
- When it will be delivered
The feasibility report and recommendations are expected to be presented to the Local Authorities by the end of May.
