Following the response by the Executive Member for Communities, Leisure and Culture, Cllr Rod Ashford, to a question at full Council from Cllr Mark Smith on 21st September 2023 regarding the removal of monitored CCTV from our Town Centres, we insist that the decision made in December 2020 be reversed. Relying on private businesses and individuals to record and capture images and video in our town centres is not right or deterrent enough.
Over the last 3 years since the then Council Executive made their decision to remove town centre CCTV from our Borough towns, out of 3869 total reported crimes in Redhill Town, for example, 2119 of them were classed in the following categories: ‘Investigation Complete: No suspect Identified’ (1225) and ‘Unable to prosecute suspect’ (894). This means that 54.7% of reported crimes in Redhill Town alone HAVE NOT resulted in a prosecution.
How many of these incidents would have resulted in a prosecution had there been evidence from monitored CCTV and how many of the 3869 reports of crime in Redhill Town Centre could have been dealt with quickly by Surrey Police if there had been an active system in place to deter, detect and gather evidence?
The petitioners request that:
1. The Council reinstates monitored CCTV in our town centres and
reverses this decision from 3 years ago based on the information
that we have now, and not the information from December 2020 which
was at the end of the Covid Lockdowns.
2. The Council will insist that Surrey Police reinstate regular
patrols around all our town centres.
3. The Council, agrees to work with Police, local businesses, shop
keepers and other stakeholders to set up and operate a form of
Shopwatch as used to great effect in Guildford and Runnymede to
deter, detect and gather evidence of anti-social behaviour, shop
lifting and other unwanted behaviours in our Borough Town
Centres.
This ePetition ran from 05/10/2023 to 09/11/2023 and has now finished.
113 people signed this ePetition.