Software enables live footage to be viewed remotely
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Closed circuit television images had shown the moment a man threatened a petrol station cashier in a robbery – just a few hours after being released from prison. David Fairbairn, of no fixed abode, was sent to prison for 30 months after admitting to holding up the service station in Devon. The court was told Fairbairn had served scores of short sentences and suffered from alcohol problems.
Investigators are examining CCTV images from a massive jewellery raid in London. The snatch was from De Beers in the Royal Exchange shopping arcade in the City of London. The thieves struck at 10pm on Saturday when a red BMW pulled up outside the Grade I-listed Royal Exchange. They are believed to have removed the chain and padlock before attacking the glass doors and looting extensively.
An example of the power of CCTV is that it provided evidence that led to a man being found guilty of assaulting a drunken off-duty soldier. Members of the jury at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court saw CCTV footage of Peter Lightfoot pushing Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall’s head to the ground and hitting him with a police helmet.
Coppers are chasing copper thieves who steal cables in the face of a big increase in the crime fuelled by surging scrap copper prices. Thieves are targeting the copper contained in the local telecoms network, leaving affected areas cut off and costing British Telecom millions of pounds every year. There was a 9% increase in incidents last year.
High density urban areas and cities have been revealed as dominating the 10 biggest hot spots in the country for burglaries occurring per 1000 people. As well as the nation’s capital, Nottingham, Bristol, Reading and Leeds figure in the list. Nevertheless if you live in Hartlepool, Durham, there is good news because this is the area that has seen the biggest reduction in burglaries since 2002.
Britain’s most senior anti-terror officer John Yates has warned spending cuts would increase the risk of attack. The Times newspaper said Mr Yates described the cuts as "eye-watering". He claimed cutting 25% from the police budget (the planned amount of across-the-board cuts announced in last month’s Budget) risked weakening the nation’s defences against al-Qaeda, the newspaper reports.
Wholesale cuts to budgets could damage forces’ ability in England and Wales to fight crime, says a new analysis of the future of policing. A "total redesign" of how officers work could save 12%, but further cuts would hit police availability, said the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Denis O’Connor.
Because of concerns over imminent budget cuts, some police forces have stopped taking on new officers, which has prompted concern over rising crime levels.
The Con-Lib coalition is expected to "further regulate" the use of closed circuit television cameras and to cut back on their use. However, one MP, Ian Lucas, said he wants the Government to shed more light on its proposals. He said: "Police revealed earlier this year that since Wrexham’s CCTV system was set up, it has led to almost 21,000 arrests. But the Government nationally is pledging ‘we will further regulate CCTV’.