13 February - Bexley. A Council built on lies and deceptions
Bexley
is not the worst run Council in London, not by a long way. It is not a Labour Tower Hamlets
nor is it a Conservative Kensington and Chelsea.
But they lie. Constantly. Why?
When they put out propaganda on Twitter it is nearly always a lie and alongside is a prime example.
According to Bexley Conservatives they monitor their CCTV system.
They monitor the CCTV? Oh yeah!
In 2015 they conducted one of their sham consultations about stopping the active
monitoring of CCTV. The consultation has long since been removed from Bexley’s website but
the
blog remains. It says they would save £225,000 a year by abandoning system monitoring.
Six months earlier Councillor Alan Downing, a former police officer, had asked the
Borough Commander what use the CCTV system was. CS Ayling said it was
the primary measure for catching offenders. Nevertheless, Bexley Council
went on to close the system down.
The following October the Borough Commander said he
could not monitor from the police station.
By July 2016
all
the CCTV staff had been made redundant.
In April last year following the Northumberland Heath riot,
Councillor Joe Ferreira asked whether saving the £225,000 had been worth it.
Councillor Craske said the riot was picked up on CCTV right from the outset. Really?
That was lucky with no one to keep watch, they will have looked at the recorded files after the event.
Cabinet Member Craske said that the Borough Commander confirmed at a Scrutiny
meeting that the beginnings of the riot in Bexleyheath were picked up on CCTV. I have checked the recording. He
did not, he said it was picked up on Social Media. Yet another Bexley Council lie.
Last week Deputy Director Toni Ainge confirmed that it was maintained but not monitored.
Why can’t Bexley’s Cabinet and Comms Team tell the truth, especially when it is so easy to discover?