Handforth Town Council has been successful in its application to Police and Crime Commissioner John Dwyer's Community Cashback Fund to deliver a project to make Handforth safer.
It has been awarded a £1,529.00 grant to assist the Town Council with their ongoing commitment to make Handforth safer and reduce ASB with the provision of additional CCTV cameras to be integrated into the current Town Council system.
The funding will allow the organisation to work with partners and the local police team to address community safety issues.
The Community Cashback Fund invest money seized from criminals, back into communities and gives them a say on how the money is spent to address the issues which matter most to them.
John Dwyer, Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire said "I'm pleased to be able to support the Town Council and local residents with this funding which will make Handforth even safer.
"I look forward to hearing about positive results and seeing the new CCTV in action."
Councillor John Smith, Chair of Handforth Town Council, said "I am very pleased with the outcome of the Council's application to the Community Cashback fund and that it will further benefit all the residents of Handforth – the installation of additional cameras will increase public safely, reduce and deter crime and provide additional support to both the police officers on the beat and victims of crime."
Comments
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They are monitored by Cheshire East at a dedicated room in Macclesfield Town Hall. They have a large wall of TV screens there, with live feeds from all the cameras in the borough (including those in Wilmslow town centre). A team of mainly ex-policemen, monitor the screens around the clock and report any issues to the police or the security staff working nearby.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow
Any data on the number of prosecutions resulting either directly or indirectly from evidence scraped from town centre cctv?
No figures that I am aware of but they probably do exist somewhere.
However, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence and the team regularly reports to the Town Council. They visited a few weeks ago to show us new portable CCTV cameras that provide great quality images, even when filming in darkness.
The CCTV team is linked to most of Wilmslow’s bars and shops, They all work together to spot potential trouble, monitor it and deal with it if they can eg by refusing entrance to a bar. If the police are called, then the CCTV team direct the police straight to the perpetrators and supply them with the video footage of the offence.
The CCTV cameras have all been upgraded to provide high quality images and at low-light levels too. Therefore, the images can be used in court cases. they are also not Chinese, in case anyone is concerned.
Finally, the CCTV teams also monitors any snatch and grab raids on stores. The shop reports the suspect as they run away, who the cameras then follow, often to a waiting car. However, the police are informed, the direction of the vehicle noted and the car is often stopped in another town and arrests made.
Overall, it seems a great system that works silently in the background to protect us all.
Handforth Town Council is perfectly satisfied with a grant of £1529 as that is the amount required to enhance the system we currently have, to tackle a specific issue.
The "crims laughing all the way to the bank" will probably not include the drivers recorded going through red traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, or the mugger identified on Handforth's CCTV system.
The "crims" in Handforth have no bank to laugh all the way to.
Any other queries can be addressed to
John Smith
Chairman - Handforth Town Council
The Cheshire East CCTV team are very happy to report to Wilmslow Town Council about their system and they do it at an open meeting, which any member of the public can attend.
Therefore, we are happy to speak about how Wilmslow’s CVTV operates and how the publics money is being used.
CCTV is not just about catching criminals though, as its also about deterring crimes and reassuring the public about their safety.
Therefore, I am not sure how that works if you are secretive about the system?