On November 15th local communities in the UK will have a chance to change the way their area is policed with the first ever Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
Highlighted
by a proactive television campaign, the vote will see 41 new positions created
whereby new ‘PCCs’ will oversee police budgets, prioritise crime prevention and
have the power to hire and fire chief constables.
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‘Jephson Gardens CCTV’
by
lydia_shiningbrightly
Available under a
Creative Commons Attribution Licence 2.0 at:
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Before
elections begin next month, voters are being asked which crimes they want to
see cracked down on most, choosing between the likes of violent crime,
anti-social behaviour and hate crimes.
In a
current poll taking place on the Channel 4 website, the biggest change most
voters want to see is an improved presence and increased visibility of
‘policing on the beat’. But with a burglary estimated to occur every 40 seconds
in the UK, more than half of them occurring at night, further solutions are
required to keep homes and businesses safe from thieves.
Ever since
the first installation at a London train station in 1961, Closed Circuit
Television, or CCTV as it is better known, has become a mainstay of crime
prevention through the country. By 1996 all but one of England’s major cities
had CCTV systems installed in their city centres, and more than three quarters of
the Government’s total crime prevention budget was spent on CCTV.
But despite
being a routine piece of security equipment today, the quality and ability of
CCTV systems to prevent crime and bring criminals to justice varies. One factor
that can work against CCTV cameras is poor visibility, even though some
high-end systems may have infa-red or night vision capabilities, the image of a
suspect that is produced can fail to stand up to scrutiny in a court of law and
lead to vandals and thieves escaping punishment.
One such
incident occurred in Newhaven, Sussex whereby three vandals that had caused
over £1,000 worth of damage to a party store had been caught on CCTV, but the
glare from nearby fluorescent street lights meant Sussex Police were unable to
identify the trio.
CCTV
manager at the force, Chief Inspector Roger Fox, told The Argus: “CCTV in Sussex is an
effective tool for tackling crime and anti social behaviour. There are many
factors that can impact on the effectiveness of CCTV, and the proximity of
street lighting can be both a positive and negative feature.”
Many modern
day CCTV system providers are realising these downfalls, and more emphasis has
been placed in recent years on better lighting coverage to supplement the
cameras, with many security firms turning to LED lighting for the solution.
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| Spitfire 24 LED Flood Lights |
Evolution
Security, who have been working with Portsmouth-based LED lighting manufacturer Gemma
Lighting LTD, believe LED lighting to be the ideal partner to CCTV systems, and
have utilised the new technology for the past three years.
A spokesman
from Evolution Security said: “Gemma Lighting’s high quality products provide
the perfect lighting for our CCTV systems and we recommend their LED flood lights
for areas under surveillance.”
As
well as higher quality images provided
by the improved lighting, the security firm also benefited from lower
maintenance costs, saved money on energy bills and reduced carbon emissions by
installing LED lighting.
With more
and more CCTV firms turning to LED flood lights as their lighting solution, and
with PCC elections just around the corner, there’s no time like the present for
businesses to secure their premises - with the possibility that burglary may not
necessarily be the highest priority under the area’s new Commissioner.
What do you make of the PCC elections? Give us your thoughts by commenting below.
What do you make of the PCC elections? Give us your thoughts by commenting below.
