CCTV cameras secure 100 arrests last year

North Devon is now safer

CCTV cameras in North Devon helped lead to nearly 100 arrests and locate more than 400 missing people last year.

From the 37 North Devon Council-owned cameras, which mostly cover Barnstaple town centre, staff identified 547 incidents through general monitoring, with 184 incidents produced for police enquiries as evidence.

Anti-social behaviour incidents are on the rise with over hundred more observed last year than in 2022.

Most images captured incidents last year were in the High Street/Butchers Row area of Barnstaple, followed by Joy Street/Boutport Street and then Queen Street.

More cameras are to be installed this year at the Boutport Street junction with Queen Street and Castle green, Anchorwood Business park and Seven Brethren Business Park, togehter with a mobile camera.

The 2023 annual report on CCTV presented to North Devon Council’s strategy and resources committee said there was a total of 1,766 observations, 96 arrests, 438 missing people and 575 reviews of footage. Anti-social behaviour accounted for around 560 incidents.

The direct cost of providing the system last year was £191,000.

The cameras, introducedin 1998, are monitored from a revamped hub in Barnstaple which employs Security Industry Authority (SIA) licensed operators who work with the police and businesses in Barnstaple town centre.

North Devon Crematorium is also monitored out-of-hours by the CCTV team.

Green Lanes shopping centre has a further 34 cameras, and 17 cameras cover Ilfracombe Harbour, both privately monitored.

Eight cameras in South Molton are not monitored live, but are reviewed on request. This system operates from the hub in Barnstaple for which South Molton Parish Council pays a fee of £5,000 a year to the district council.

Whilst recognising that CCTV had been a success in North Devon, particularly in Barnstaple, councillors were told there was no pot of funding for extending the scheme across the district. Parish and town councils might need to fund projects through their own element of council tax.

Cllr Paul Crabb (Con, Ilfracombe East) said funding becomes available from time to time from the police and crime commissioner to buy cameras, but an issue is the running and monitoring costs.

“Ilfracombe Town Centre is happy to put cameras in, but terrified of racking up revenue costs,” he said.

Cllr Graham Bell (Lib Dem, Braunton East) said some parishes did not have a police presence or a police station and that should be taken into account when deciding on sites for future CCTV.

Council chief executive Ken Miles said if parishes had a problem with anti-social behviour and they wanted funding for cameras and the district council to monitor them, that was something that could be done.

The Barnstaple CCTV hub is capable of monitoring cameras for the whole district.

Discussions are ongoing between the Ilfracombe task team, involving district council members, and the police about putting more cameras in Ilfracombe.

The town is now patrolled by street marshals to reduce anti-social behaviour after incidents dropped by 30 per cent in Barnstaple as a result of the initiative.