Police 'not using CCTV properly'

The police are failing to use CCTV to catch as many criminals as they could, a senior officer has told the BBC.
Det Ch Insp Mick Neville of the Met police’s CCTV unit said most forces do not have systems to retrieve, process and distribute CCTV crime scene images.
Officers in some London boroughs are failing to solve any tier one and two crimes such as serious assaults and robberies using CCTV, he added.
A new study says there may be a million fewer UK CCTV cameras than thought.

The police are failing to use CCTV to catch as many criminals as they could, a senior officer has told the BBC.

Det Ch Insp Mick Neville of the Met police’s CCTV unit said most forces do not have systems to retrieve, process and distribute CCTV crime scene images.

Officers in some London boroughs are failing to solve any tier one and two crimes such as serious assaults and robberies using CCTV, he added.

A new study says there may be a million fewer UK CCTV cameras than thought.

‘Gone wrong’

DCI Neville told the BBC’s The World At One and Newsnight that, while his own force had made errors, the picture for the rest of the country “isn’t good”.

He added: “Because we had CCTV first, we made all the mistakes.

“And the mistake was spend it on kit, don’t spend it on people or processes and that’s what’s gone wrong.

“Unless there is a systematic way of gathering CCTV then it will continue not to be as effective as it could be.”

Continues @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8158942.stm

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