Network of CCTV cameras key to solving 25% of crimes

A NETWORK of CCTV cameras has been credited with solving one in four crimes in a rundown city estate.

Figures released today by the Broomhouse and North Sighthill Safer Communities Unit, a team of council-funded police officers, show that one-quarter of all solved crime is now directly attributable to nine linked, high-specification cameras.

Between June 2004 and June 2005, the six-strong team dealt with 171 recorded crimes across the area.

They detected 140, or 85 per cent, of crimes after inquiries. Evidence from the network of CCTV camera's was crucial 25 per cent of cases.

The officer in charge of the Safer Communities Unit in Broomhouse and North Sighthill, Sergeant Colin Gagen, believes joint working lies at the heart of this success: "We have developed an excellent working relationship with the city council's CCTV Monitoring Unit.

"The operators are very skilled and with their support we can intervene before a crime occurs, or be directed to where a crime is taking place.

"Even if a crime has taken place, we can obtain CCTV footage that will help us identify the culprits. The cameras cannot do the work of a police officer but are certainly a very valuable tool that has had a key role in helping drive down crime."