Petition details
CCTV in Tower Hamlets
Enter any more details and reasoning you feel will be helpful to understand your ePetition.
This Petition ran from 03/03/2019 to 16/07/2019 and has now finished.
981 people signed this Petition.
Council response
I write further to the petition submitted by you to Full Council on 17th July 2019 in your absence.
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has a comprehensive network of council funded CCTV cameras which are placed throughout the borough. These are used for a wide range of council functions as well as to support the local police in detecting and investigating crimes. Overall, the council’s CCTV network and control room staff contribute to 8% of all arrests in the borough. In addition, our council funded police (the Partnership Taskforce) work closely with CCTV, particularly around the targeting of vehicles involved in drugs and crime.
In February 2019, we conducted a comprehensive review of the Council’s network of CCTV by analysing the current uses of CCTV by the council, the locations of CCTV in relation to crime, Anti Social Behaviour, fly-tipping and graffiti hotspots and evidence of CCTV’s effectiveness in relation to deterring, detection, investigating crime and in reassuring residents.
In undertaking this review, we conducted focus groups and an online survey of residents, which received over 600 responses. We also engaged with stakeholders such as police, who told us that Tower Hamlets CCTV network is invaluable in the work they do, particularly in the context of current resource challenges.
Using this evidence, together with national and international studies on CCTV’s effectiveness, we found that there is limited evidence that CCTV is effective in deterring crime (particularly violent crime) and the only crime type which is impacted is motor vehicle theft. There is more evidence that CCTV is effective in detecting and investigating crime.
This detailed review lead to 18 recommendations, which were taken to Cabinet at the end of June
and were all approved. The full report and its recommendations
may be found at
http://democracyinternal.towerhamlets.gov.uk/documents/g10221/Public%20reports%20pack%2026th-Jun-2019%2017.30%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10)
listed as item 6.5 of the pack. We are now working on a delivery
plan for those 18 recommendations to ensure that this important
work is fully implemented by the Council.
One of the recommendations coming out of the review is to develop an assessment tool for making decisions on where future CCTV cameras should be located. This must be based primarily on evidence of CCTV’s detection and investigation value in a particular area, using crime and ASB data and input from our police partners. In conducting the review and speaking with the police, we found that the current locations of CCTV in the borough largely overlap with crime, ASB, graffiti and fly-tipping hotspots.
Actions leading from the review will be supported by a provisionally agreed council investment of £3 million into CCTV in the borough. This capital investment will be used to upgrade the current network, which is largely out of date. The Review recommends expanding the Council’s network of HD, UHD and 4K cameras. As mentioned in your petition we will also be considering the tactical placement of re-deployable cameras for periodic events and changing crime and ASB neighbourhood hotspots.
I trust the above is a satisfactory response to your
petition.
Denise Radley
Corporate Director, Health, Adults & Community