CCTV network grows

Tuesday March 23, 2010

New CCTV will see nearly 300 housing estate cameras installed or upgraded in the next six months.

H&F Council is working with H&F Homes to transform the existing network on eight housing estates into a state-of-the- art surveillance system.

More than £1million will be ploughed into buying new cameras, upgrading the existing network and improving links to the central control room at Hammersmith Town Hall.

The police Borough Commander, Kevin Hurley, said: "Criminals such as drug dealers, robbers and vandals do not like CCTV.

"It has proven to be a real asset in helping us to identify offenders and bring them to justice. The council's investment in its CCTV network is proof that it is taking the security of residents seriously."

Residents of Fulham Court, Edward Woods, Charecroft, Clem Attlee, Bayonne and Lampeter, White City and Batman Close, West Kensington and Becklow Gardens will all benefit from the first phase of the improvement works.

As well as its own cameras, H&F Council has access to dozens of others across the borough thanks to an innovative camera-sharing scheme.

Businesses such as the West 12 shopping centre and Chelsea and QPR football clubs, as well as Transport for London and the police, all share images with the council's CCTV control room.

H&F cabinet member Greg Smith (pictured above) said: "Our CCTV upgrade will increase the chances that criminals will be caught and brought to justice."

A recent probe shows the council's camera network is capturing about 200 incidents a month - with a quarter of those resulting in an arrest.

Marie Thomas, chairwoman of Hammersmith & Fulham Tenants' & Residents' Association, said: "I know residents on the Fulham Court and Clem Attlee estates who are particularly supportive of this upgrade."