Bradford was yesterday awarded nearly £1 million by the Government to increase and improve the closed circuit TV coverage of city centre streets to reduce crime. Nick Oldham and Joanne Earp look at what impact it could have.

Retailers and the public can look forward to a safer environment in Bradford city centre from next year.

That's the message being put out by police and city leaders following the Government allocation of nearly £1 million for surveillance cameras.

The £979,279 grant, together with more than £300,000 raised locally, will pay for replacement car park cameras, new street CCTV and a 21st century control room centralising systems already running in Keighley, Bingley and Shipley as well as Bradford.

Sharmila Gandhi, the City Council's community safety policy officer, has no doubts of the benefits of an extended CCTV coverage.

"The fear of crime is far higher than the actuality of crime," she said.

"When we did a crime and disorder audit last year we asked what would make people feel safer and one of the top answers was CCTV.

"Older people said they didn't like using the city at night because they felt it was unsafe.

"Cameras act as a deterrent, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, and they give people confidence to go out because they know they could be being watched.

"It then has a knock-on effect - the more people who come into the city at night, the safer they will feel and the fear of crime will be reduced further.

"And it will all benefit the economy of the city centre from shops to clubs."

But she is the first to stress the new system is no use in isolation.

"We are not saying it's a panacea to cure all crime," she said.

"It has to be used as part of a package of initiatives including better street lighting, high profile policing, secure car parks and communication if it is going to be effective.

"The Government grant is absolutely fantastic news - it's something we have all been waiting for with bated breathe because it does have a very positive impact in the city.

"We want to see a package of measures developing in the city centre to make it a better place."

The existing CCTV cameras in city car parks are old and the system - opened in 1990 by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - is obsolete, so part of the money will go towards up-dating them and the system itself.

Keighley currently has a radio link Shop Watch system working alongside its CCTV cameras so that police, retailers and the control room can keep in constant contact.

Details of incidents or individuals spotted on cameras are immediately sent out by radio to everyone taking part in the scheme.

"The likelihood is the whole of our system will have a radio link as well," she said.

"The police, the council and retailers in the city centre already communicate well together, giving each other key information - making them aware of what the crime situation is and of any individuals shopkeepers need to keep an eye out for.

"Once the new system is up and running it will make them even more efficient."

Bradford currently has 36 cameras in car parks - but none on the streets apart from one covering the Jacobs Well subway.

Now the Government has guaranteed the cash, this will all change.

The general consensus of opinion is that by Spring next year there will be 24 cameras up and running at key locations in the city centre feeding images through fibre optic cable back to a central monitoring and control room in Britannia House.

From there a minimum of three specially-trained operators will watch a bank of 30 plus colour monitors receiving pictures from Bradford and from existing CCTV cameras in Keighley, Bingley and Shipley.

They will also be able to relay pictures to a screen in the police area control room at Bradford central police station

"It really will be a state-of-the-art system," Ms Gandhi said.

One criticism often voiced is that CCTV cameras merely drive villains to a nearby area which hasn't got them.

But that is a view which is not backed up by hard facts, she said.

"With any crime prevention initiative you are always going to get a small displacement of crime - if one person fits a burglar alarm to their house the likelihood is the ones next door which don't have one could be burgled.

"But there is no evidence to suggest you get 100 per cent displacement - in fact the Home Office figures say you may only get a two per cent displacement.

"But we are not relying entirely on CCTV and we are not just focusing on one area.

"We are looking at tackling crime throughout the district using a number of different initiatives."

But what about our civil rights?

Mention CCTV to many people and they immediately think of the phrase Big Brother - the State keeping tabs on its subjects, monitoring their every move.

Bradford's One in Twelve Club has already described the planned introduction of CCTV throughout the city centre as a "massive increase in surveillance" which is "part of a process of social control".

It's a view which Bradford Council and the Home Office alike are keenly aware of.

But Colin Clayton, the council's car parks and CCTVC manager, says the existence of cameras at key sites in the city centre has nothing to do with state control.

Part of the bid for the Government money included submitting a code of conduct which the council would follow in relation to civil liberties.

And the new control room will be liable to unannounced visits by independent overseers appointed to make sure the system is not abused.

"We don't have a secret agenda," Mr Clayton said.

"We are not going to run any secret campaigns and there will be no covert operations.

"Everything will be completely open as it is now and we will have open days so people can look round the new control room and see it in action."

The system running in Keighley is computer controlled and can be programmed to turn off the monitors if the camera passes the window of a private house.

That will happen in Bradford too - and individuals who fear their privacy may be invaded by the cameras will be invited to go along and talk about it.

"The Home Office wants to make sure there is no abuse of civil liberties and so do we," Mr Clayton said.

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