Bradford residents were today urged to join the fight against crime by naming hotspots where new portable security cameras should be deployed.

The district is to benefit from 12 new rapid deployment cameras, which can be sent to problem areas in an effort to track down criminals and boost personal security.

Police and Council chiefs today hailed the new cameras - costing £17,000 each - as an "innovative weapon" in the fight against crime.

And residents and businesses will get to 'vote' on where would benefit from the new technology.

They can be put up on signposts, lampposts and buildings, with the pictures being relayed back to the city centre closed-circuit television (CCTV) control centre.

The joint project between Bradford Council and West Yorkshire Police is thought to be the first of its kind in the country.

It is planned to consult residents through neighbourhood forums and talks with community groups.

Police and Council officials will then use the results of the survey and the official crime figures to decide where the cameras should be located.

Councillor Simon Cooke, executive member for regeneration, said CCTV cameras had helped to combat crime in the city centre and residential areas such as Little Horton.

"We have seen the benefits of the cameras in areas across the city," he said. "With this new scheme, if we get a street where there has been a spate of burglaries then we will be able to take a camera to the street and hopefully catch those responsible."

Coun Cooke said he did not want to see cameras "on every street corner", but said the new scheme would allow the police to respond to new problem areas.

"It is very important that ordinary people have their say because often they are as well informed, if not better informed, than the police or Council," he said. "It also gets them involved in the fight against crime. The cameras obviously can't be everywhere and we will focus on where there are serious problems."

Bradford Council CCTV manager Phil Holmes said: "It is a new system which allows us to be a bit more flexibility and we can deploy them more quickly than in the past," he said. "The quality is not as good as a regular camera but they are far less expensive.

"This scheme will be a major advantage because it will let us know if a permanent camera would be suitable for a particular location or not."

Gillian Mayfield, the Council's senior policy officer for community safety, said the cameras would not solve all crime problems, but could improve security for pedestrians in the city.

"I think this is a really positive step around enhancing the CCTV coverage because it allows us more flexibility and we can respond to situations as they happen," she said. "It is a fairly innovative scheme and it will be interesting to see how it works."