Town Centre Gets New CCTV Cameras Installed

Newly installed CCTV cameras in Sittingbourne and Sheerness Town Centres have gone live.

Swale Borough Council have purchased nine new public space CCTV cameras as part of their 'Safer Streets' Project which aims to tackle antisocial behaviour, and violence against women and girls.

Six pan, tilt and zoom cameras have been installed, five in Sittingbourne and one in Sheerness, to bolster the network of existing cameras already monitored 24/7 by the council’s CCTV control room.

An additional three rapid deployment cameras, which are mobile and can be installed in the event of an emergency or in locations that see a spike in crime, have also been purchased.

The cameras allow the control room to radio in any incidents to the police through Swale Link, act as a visual deterrent against anti-social behaviour and gathers evidence which helps the council catch and prosecute offenders.                             

Other measures that aim to improve the visibility of the town centres include trimming trees and improving the lighting of public spaces, like Beachfields’ play area.

In addition to the increased monitoring there has also been security improvements made to anti-social behaviour hotspots such as shutters and fencing at the empty Sheerness Library.

Cllr Richard Palmer, Chair of the Community and Leisure Committee, told SFM News: “Our CCTV control room works incredibly hard to monitor the borough’s cameras, and have had success stopping anti-social behaviour and helping catch and prosecute criminals. Adding to this network of cameras will undoubtedly help keep people safe, and it is the communication between our officers and Kent Police, through Swale Link, that makes these resources so effective. The rapid deployment cameras are also great for responding to emergencies or adding security to locations that start to see more crime, it allows us to have a pair of eyes anywhere in these town centres.”

Cllr Elliott Jayes, Vice Chair of the Community and Leisure Committee, said: “Safer Streets has been working to add physical deterrents and measures such as these cameras and the street marshals. But we are also trying to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour, through our youth work, community engagement like the gardener clubs and through education in our local schools. We are proud of the efforts we have made to make everyone feel safer in these two towns -Sittingbourne and Sheerness have a lot to offer and we should all feel proud to call them home. Of course, we would have liked to implement these measures elsewhere in the borough, but unfortunately the government’s safer streets guidelines required us to be targeted in order to successfully bid for these funds".

The council, through the Community Safety Partnership, worked with the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner to secure the funding needed for the campaign from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund.

The council say the Safer Streets project is also implementing other measures to help people feel safe in the towns, such as:

• funding youth programmes such as Vibe's Sheerness Youth Club
• offering free active bystander training and “train the trainer” events
• educational workshops at a local secondary school focusing on subjects such as anti-social behaviour, drugs, alcohol, knife crime and vaping
• working in partnership with Sheppey Matters to help fund Community engagement events, such as the community gardener
• street marshals to patrol the high streets
• teaming up with domestic abuse charities to give out a personal safety app to vulnerable women

More information can be found at:- kent-pcc.gov.uk/what-we-do/commissioning/safer-streets/