‘Effective but room for improvement!’ South Holland district councillor gives verdict on area’s CCTV coverage

The area’s CCTV network has been labelled ‘effective’ – but it has been claimed there is still room for improvement.

South Holland district councillor Ingrid Sheared was invited to tour the monitoring suite on Thursday, having previously raised concerns about the system after being approached by worried members of the public.

During the visit Coun Sheard saw the wheels of justice in motion as a police officer was able to use images to identify a suspect in an alleged offence, but admitted being taken aback that at certain times all 16 televisions – which monitor areas across South Holland, Boston Borough and East Lindsey – are viewed by just one person.

“There’s 24-hour coverage, although I was a little surprised to see that between the hours of 7am to 12 lunchtime, and 8pm to 11pm, the images are only monitored by one person as a whole,” Coun Sheard said.

“It should be noted they (the staff) do have other bits and pieces to do, paperwork to fill in.

“We have to recognise that, but at all other times there are two people monitoring, so it’s a good and a bad, just quite surprising we only have one person at certain times.”

At present there are 16 televisions carrying more than 100 images from across the three-council partnership.

Two of those televisions show a combined 18 images that cover South Holland. As there are more than 18 cameras in the district, images are interchangeable.

Coun Sheard and SHDC deputy leader Gary Taylor – who instigated the visit to the monitoring room in neighbouring Boston – hope that staffing levels can be increased to help with coverage.

“From our perspective we feel the improvement that needs to be made is that it should be a two person monitoring the project 24 hours a day,” Coun Sheard added.

“We have been told there is currently a look at employing somebody else for a vacancy that is going through the motions.

“It would be mine and Gary’s hopes that might be filled with someone here locally, so that we do have a broad local knowledge base of people viewing CCTV.”

The two councillors also hope the system can be expanded further in the district, and that members of the public will continue to report offences knowing eyes in the skies could be vital in prosecutions.

Coun Sheard said: “From our perspective, we feel its effective and offering value for money.

“We feel that its not 100% perfect but it would be very difficult to get there. We’re going to continue to assess all upcoming new areas and things being renovated to see how they can be best covered by the monitoring.

“It’s also our intention to continue working with the public and our partners to bring about the improvement and effectiveness of CCTV. It’s genuinely our hope that by working together, and with people reporting incidents, to bring about a better safety.

“We want to open ourselves up and say to everybody, feel free to come forward with questions and concerns at any time and we will continue to pursue.”

“From both of our perspectives, the general feel is that the CCTV system and the investment that’s been put into it so far does offer quality imagery for us.

“It’s not perfect. If sunshine hits the dome or if there’s dirt or whatever the images are impaired.

“But we have been assured that things like that are bog-standard across CCTV mechanisms and that if there is a genuine need for cleaning that is dealt with relatively swiftly.

“The CCTV is not only used for utilising crime and anti-social behaviour, it’s also been very beneficial in supporting vulnerable and missing people incidents, alongside assisting varying departments in investigations of incidents that have been going on across the region.”

Coun Taylor described the visit as a ’worthwhile experience’.

“Ideally, if we could have two members of staff operating at all times that would be a better situation,” he said.

“We both agreed the location is not a negative because Spalding received a full service from that control room.

“The knowledge of the staff was notable - they now the roads, the people, the area. That was a positive.”

He was also pleased Coun Sheard was able to witness an ongoing police investigation while in the building.

“We could see first hand there was a result from footage,” he continued.

“The cameras can zoom and tilt and pan in; they are very effective.

“We have to let people know the benefits. It’s used daily by the police and community safety staff at the council.

“It does valuable work.”