Westport CCTV fait accompli?

 

I was surprised to see an article in the Mayo News recently about installing a CCTV system in the town,  Very surprised in fact because this was the first I was told about any such move.

 

I think this is an insult to my position as a councillor and an attempt to present CCTV as a fait accompli.  I think CCTV is over hyped as a solution to crime in particular to anti social crimes and I don't think articles should be appearing in the paper without the council having debated the issue first.

 

Here is a copy of the letter I have sent to the Mayo News.  I will be on Midwest Radio tommorrow to discuss this issue with Tommy Marren after 10am.  Tune in if you get a chance.

 

Dear Madam,

 

I am writing to you in relation to an article, which appeared in your paper (Mayo News, August 15,Westport organisations to look for 2008 funding for CCTV ) announcing the intention of the certain bodies in the town to apply for a CCTV system.

 

I would like to point out, as an elected representative for the town that I have not been consulted at any stage about such a scheme and can confirm also that the issue of CCTV has not been discussed or debated at any stage by Westport Town Council since I was elected.

 

I think the issue should be debated properly in the council chamber before the issue proceeds any further. 

 

Also some important issues to be remembered in relation to CCTV are

·        The average citizen in the UK is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day.

·        A report by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (Nacro) which was based on Home Office research, revealed that of 24 studies carried out in city centres, only 13 showed crime had fallen since CCTV cameras were installed.

·        The Scottish Centre for Criminology concluded in 1999 that the powers of the cameras had been "over-hyped as a "magic bullet cure".

·         In 2005 the UK’s Home Office Report on CCTV (Home Office Research Study 292) found that “increased street-lighting was significantly more effective than CCTV in cutting crime, as well as being considerably cheaper in both capital and income terms.”

 

I have already asked Westport Town Council officials to install extra lighting at trouble spots such as the Clock and more recently Church Lane to examine its effectiveness as a deterrent. 

 

I really believe that there is no deterrent to crime better than the Guard on the street.  The ridiculous situation is that we actually have less Gardai now in Mayo than we did ten years ago.  There has been a drop of two Gardaí in Mayo since 1997 despite a massive increase in population in Mayo.  257 Gardaí were employed in the county in 1997, while 255 are currently on duty in Mayo. 

 

The Government have never delivered on its 2002 promise of 2,000 extra Gardai and are instead trying to fob us off with ineffective measures such as CCTV schemes when what we need are Gardai on the streets of Westport tackling the thugs who are ruining the quality of life in our town.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Keith Martin

Councillor

33 Pairc na Coille

Westport

Mayo

086 0691182