22 July - Turning a blind eye to crime
I
managed to be at BiB related meetings every evening this week as well as doing a
plumbing job for the old lady in Newham, hence the lack of an earlier blog for today.
The final meeting was of the Thamesmead East and Lesnes Abbey Ward Police Panel which
was fortunately held only a few hundred yards away from home.
Bexley Council’s CCTV system has until very recently been monitored from
their surveillance centre in Lessness Avenue and is another service that has
fallen victim to the cuts. Bexley Council said
it could save £225,000 a year
by transferring the responsibility to the police.
The police have no more spare cash than the Council.
It was confirmed at this evening’s Police Panel meeting that all the staff employed on CCTV
monitoring have been made redundant and according to one person who worked in
the same building on non-CCTV work no one at all is looking at the screens any
more. No longer will it be possible to direct the police to trouble spots or
follow miscreants from one locality to the next. The CCTV system is now close to useless.
Bexley has the cash for
cameras which raise revenue via fines but none to spend on public safety.
It won’t be long before the criminal fraternity takes advantage of the situation
and then how long will Bexley’s safe borough status survive?