CCTV SEES RESULTS

CCTV in Newtownards town centre is seeing results.

Police responded to eight incidents over two weekends in January in Castle Street, High Street and Conway Square after being notified by staff at the CCTV monitoring suite.

Most of the incidents involved fighting in the early hours of the morning, resulting in two arrests in one case, but more importantly, according to Councillor Jonathan Bell, Chairman of Ards Borough Council's Council Services Committee, diffusing other potentially dangerous situations:

"The immediacy of CCTV is of paramount importance, as it allows a rapid response from the police when incidents do occur and, as the examples in January demonstrate, helps to prevent an escalation of violence, potential injury or damage to property and, therefore, more serious police action," said Councillor Bell. "While we will never know how many crimes CCTV has prevented simply because its presence is a deterrent, it is reassuring to know that the system is performing as it should when incidents do occur".

Sergeant Lindsay of the PSNI said:

"CCTV can provide the local community with a degree of reassurance and help to prevent disorder, criminal damage, thefts and offences against the person, such as assaults. It is an excellent method of evidence gathering relating to both offence and non-offence based incidents and I hope its presence will continue to encourage people to report incidents to the police, as there is every chance that it has been caught on camera and can be used as evidence on their behalf".

Six cameras became operational in Ards in September following a successful bid for funding from central government by Ards Borough Council in partnership with the local Community Safety Partnership, District Policing Partnership and the police.