Making Birmingham streets safer by adding surveillance cameras in key areas.
Project Highlights:
- The project started in spring 2003. It is funded jointly by the Home Office and SRB4 and will last for the life of the program (2011).
- Safer Streets consists of 35 fixed cameras at pre-sited locations based on existing patterns of crime and anti-social behavior.
- There are also a further 6 deployable cameras which are able to respond to changing crime patterns.
- All cameras are monitored 24 hours a day 7 days a week by Birmingham City Council control room.
- All cameras record images which are stored for 30 days.
- The images are fed to West Midlands Police.
- There is liaison between West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council to ensure maximum effective use of the system.
- Successes to date include convictions for robbery, football violence and vehicle crime. The cameras have proved their usefulness to the Police in the controlling of live incidents and operations.
- An interim evaluation has shown that the scheme has had a positive impact on local residents’ fear of crime.