WHILE Bathurst's CBD streets remain free of closed-circuit television (CCTV), neighbouring councils say the technology is proving beneficial to their cities.
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Crime rates in Dubbo have plummeted since the introduction of CCTV, while Orange and Lithgow councils say the technology is helping police.
A Bathurst Regional Council spokesperson said while there are a number of CCTV cameras around the CBD, they are only focused on "council assets [buildings]", not the streets.
Some Bathurst councillors support installing CCTV in the CBD and others are against it.
Dubbo City Council community services director David Dwyer said the city's 27 cameras, which have a live feed to the city's police station, have changed Dubbo.
There were 180 street offences (fighting, urinating in public, etc) in Dubbo in 2002/03. After CCTV was installed, the number of street offences dropped to 36.
Thefts dropped from 308 to 173, assault from 69 to 58, and break and enters from 47 to 22.
“Crime in that area dropped dramatically in the first two years,” Mr Dwyer said.
“We paid for the first 11 and have received federal government grants for subsequent ones, but we pay for the maintenance. Around $200,000 was spent on the first round ... we just asked for another $50,000 because we recognise some [of the original cameras] may start to fail shortly.”
Mr Dwyer said the cameras were installed following a push from the community following cases of vandalism in the CBD.
“We took the politics out of it and asked the police to recommend hot spots,” he said. Lithgow City Council information technology manager Ally Shelton said the full cost of the city’s six CCTV cameras, and their ongoing maintenance, is covered by council.
“I’ve found the business community in particular is very supportive of them and it’s always been in the crime prevention committee’s interest to ensure the network is maintained,” she said.
Orange City Council’s 24 CCTV cameras were installed in 2009, with the system expanded thanks to federal government funding last year.
Upkeep and maintenance costs are covered by council, according to corporate and community relations manager Nick Redmond.
“There are strict controls over how the images captured by the CCTV system can be viewed and vision from the cameras is not monitored,” he said.
“Data from the cameras is stored by Orange City Council and police routinely make a request for vision in order to help with an investigation.”
Mr Redmond said it is difficult to measure whether their CCTV strategy prevents crime.
“But the CCTV cameras are a valuable part of the suite of crime prevention measures which are currently in place,” he said.
