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.