The Chairman introduced the Shop Watch
representative Stuart Brotherton to present the Spalding Town
Centre Security & CCTV update.
Stuart Brotherton introduced himself to the
Forum and gave a brief outline of his credentials, and his current
position as the Shop/Business Watch representative.
- In the previous ten years the retail
trading sector had suffered, struggling to compete with online
trading, and many shops had closed.
- Towns had seen a demise of up to
twenty five percent of local businesses, pubs, and retail
outlets.
- It was promising that several
businesses were reopening - The Ship Albion public house, along
with new town centre shops.
The Business Watch scheme was a preventative
scheme which carried out banning orders on individuals who
committed crime in retail and public house premises.
- Currently 28 shops and 13 pubs were
members of the Business Watch scheme.
- Members had radio links to Boston
CCTV Centre, where radios were
monitored at no additional cost.
- Although a professional operation,
the Boston CCTV Centre had multiple cameras to monitor, and were
currently at maximum capacity.
Although Stuart Brotherton explained he did
not directly deal with the CCTV operation, he had ample experience
in this field.
- He informed the Forum that the
elevated camera outside The Ivy Wall gave a panoramic view from
Bentley’s to the traffic lights on New Road, making this a
really valuable camera.
- He suggested that an elevated camera
in the Sheep Market would be able to cover all angles, rather than
an eye level camera which would be restricted.
- If an elevated camera was placed in
a central position, it would give the maximum coverage of a
360-degree circular view.
- Currently, Shop Watch had banned 28
individuals, some with lifetime bans for repeated
offences.
- Local town pubs had less offenders,
due to effective premises licence management.
- Establishments that engaged full
time security reported a significant
decrease in thefts.
Members asked Stuart Brotherton if he could
advise on the issues the town was currently experiencing in the
area outside Boots in Hall Place.
- He informed the Forum, that along
with local councillors, Spalding town centre shops/businesses were
collaborating to assess how they could improve the situation.
- Stuart Brotherton advised the Forum
that he had recently written to the Home Secretary with regard to
the changes that were required in Law and Order for a fair justice
system.
- 95% of shop thefts were committed by
persons with drug and alcohol dependencies, not as a result of the
cost-of-living crisis.
- He urged the courts to scrutinise
how they addressed and dealt with
entrenched alcohol and drug issues - dealing with these issues
would be a solution to the majority of shop theft.
- Change was required, specifically in
relation to sentencing.
The Forum thanked
Stuart Brotherton for the excellent work.
The members raised the following points:
Councillor Sheard and Councillor Taylor
informed the Forum that they had travelled to Boston to view the
monitoring of the CCTV and presented back the
following:
- At certain times the CCTV was
monitored by only one person, covering all three council
areas.
- Often the officers were performing
various other tasks/duties whist observing the security
cameras.
- Would recommend a larger space and a
minimum of two persons at all times to monitor the surveillance
system.
- Boston and Skegness, being larger
towns took priority over Spalding.
- It was suggested that additional
officers to monitor the CCTV, who had an excellent knowledge of the
local area, be employed.
- It was recommended that all members
should visit the Boston CCTV control room.
Stuart Brotherton agreed with members that the
officers monitoring the CCTV were spread too thin and that in the
past there would have been three to four people, some with a police
background, monitoring the surveillance system.
The Portfolio Holder for Strategic Housing,
Leisure Centre Delivery and Spalding Town Improvement informed the
Forum that as CCTV fell under his Portfolio, he would provide an
updated data report to future Forum meetings.
Members raised the following questions:
- Did the public require advice on how
to report incidents?
- Incidents should be reported to the
SHDC Community Safety Team on the Council’s website or
directly to the Police, giving the date, time, and as many details
as possible. This would enable the police to gather evidence, make
arrests and gain convictions.
- The Street Safe app could be
downloaded and used to report any incident, including Anti-Social
Behaviour.
- The Chairman asked what the cost of
an elevated 360 camera above the Sheep Market toilets would be?
- The Portfolio Holder for Strategic
Housing, Leisure Centre Delivery and Spalding Town Improvement
responded that he would investigate the cost and coverage and
present back at the next Forum meeting.
- It was noted that the current camera
in the Sheep Market gave a restricted view.
- A single elevated camera in the
correct position would provide excellent footage of Station Street,
Hall Place and The Crescent.
- It was noted that CCTV cameras
reduced crime and were multifunctional.
- With the correctly positioned
camera, CCTV footage would show who had entered the toilets,
although it would still not show who had vandalised the inside of
the toilets.
- Would buskers need to be approved to
perform in Spalding Town centre?
- SHDC held an approved list for
licenced buskers and anyone performing without a licence would be
moved on.