CCTV control 'too far away'

Criminals are slipping through the net because Kidderminster's CCTV cameras are monitored more than 10 miles away, it was claimed today.Kidderminster has seven CCTV cameras which are monitored in a control room in Bromsgrove.

But according to a crime-fight boss in Kidderminster there are only around three staff to monitor up to 80 cam-eras.

Bromsgrove also has its own crimelink scheme called Lifeline which means monitors can be too busy to look at cameras in Kidderminster, it was claimed.

Ros Darby, KRISP (Kidderminster Retail Initiative Security Partnership) scheme manager, said today: "It does cause problems for us here as in the Swan Centre we can see a person on our cameras but then they often go towards a different camera - one that is monitored in Bromsgrove.

"We then have to ring on a mobile. Sometimes the phone isn't charged or the people in the control room can be too busy to have a look for us. People we are tracking definitely slip through the net.

"I do not want to knock them as they help when they can - but the system is limited."

Mrs Darby said that she had raised the issue with Wyre Forest District Council but felt the concerns had not been fully addressed.

She said: "We want a video link from the control room in Bromsgrove to use in Kidderminster so we can see what they see and vice versa."

Wyre Forest District Council brought in the cameras in 2005.

A report has been drawn up about the cameras - which also extend to Stourport and Bewdley - which will be considered by the community services committee on November 5.

In a report the council admitted that a weakness in the system is the fact the cameras are not monitored in the town itself.