Spalding estate agent and councillor criticises the justice system and the use of CCTV after incident with tenant
A councillor says he has lost confidence in the justice system after a resident’s windows were smashed by vandals and nothing was done – and believes the police don’t have the time, resources or effort to improve the situation.
Coun Aaron Spencer, who is also a property consultant at Sedge Estate Agents in Spalding, feels the response towards tackling anti-social behaviour in the town needs to improve following a ‘shocking’ incident which left one of his tenants in ‘floods of tears’.
After installing his own CCTV cameras outside one of his properties down Abbey Yard, near The Crescent in Spalding, Aaron caught vandals throwing a brick through the property window and sent this footage to the police – but was told they had exhausted every avenue of the situation.
Coun Spencer said: “The tenant visited me in floods of tears because someone threw a brick through their window, whilst his daughter was asleep upstairs.
“It was shocking and cost more than £300 for me to replace the window.
“I caught high resolution photos and a video of two gentlemen doing it. I contacted the police and told them I had this footage and was told someone would call me back.
“A couple of days later I received an email to say they had exhausted every avenue of the situation.
“I contacted them again to explain I had the footage and they apologised and said it wasn’t on the report. After they looked through the footage, I was told there was nothing they could do.
“It just left me with no confidence that the system works and there is no punishment for those who commit crimes.”
After speaking out about his concerns at a recent Spalding Town Forum meeting, which discussed the town’s CCTV, Aaron questioned whether they are enough of a deterrent in the fight against anti-social behaviour.
He added: “It was a very disappointing report from the town forum. There’s a lot to love about Spalding but we’re kidding ourselves if we think we couldn’t improve the services we offer.
“I just don’t have faith in the police to act on anything – there is no punishment.
“The police can authorise punishment but they either don’t have the time, resources or attitude to do it and that’s why CCTV doesn't work.”
‘How can we improve our CCTV?’
Coun Spencer, who represents the Spalding Wygate ward on South Holland District Council, spoke during a discussion on Spalding’s CCTV cameras.
The chamber was told that South Holland Police are encouraging members of the public to report all incidents of anti-social behaviour to help officers create a map of problem hotspots which may, in turn, enable the force to gain additional funding to tackle these issues.
Coun Spencer asked Coun Anthony Casson, the portfolio holder for public protection, how improvements could be made to aid this.
“I think the public sentiment is that reporting it to the police is all well and good, but they won’t do anything; that our CCTV doesn’t do anything to deter this behaviour,” he continued.
“How would you rate our CCTV system? How can we improve it? If you say its fine then how do we change the public sentiment? If we can demonstrate this to the public they can report more.”
Coun Casson - who has recently had the CCTV cameras to his portfolio - admitted he didn’t know how old the cameras were or whether they needed an upgrade.
“Regarding the police, I can’t comment whether they can do anything,” he added.
“They have to have the proper footage and be able to identify people. I can’t speak for the police.”
Coun Spencer responded by stating ‘you can speak for this authority’, to which Coun Casson described the cameras as ‘quite adequate’.
Coun Gary Taylor, who previously had responsibility for the cameras and has regularly championed their use, pointed out they were less than two years old and added ‘they do reassure the public’.
CCTV footage is currently monitored at Boston’s Municipal Buildings, where staff deal with footage from cameras across South Holland, Boston Borough, East Lindsey and also areas in Sleaford.
At present there are five full time staff members, five part time staff members, five flexible staff members and volunteers working shifts.
South Holland District Council paid £30,000 towards to use of the cameras this financial year, which includes 82 cameras in Spalding, four in Holbeach and three in Crowland.
The police said that CCTV is a really useful tool and is used in a variety of ways. A full interview will explore this topic in the coming days.
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