SOUTH Worcestershire’s top policeman has warned of the grave implications for Worcester people of council proposals to stop monitoring the city’s CCTV cameras.

Chief Superintendent Rod Reynolds tells your Worcester News he is “deeply concerned” about city council plans to save £140,000 a year by leaving the city’s 63-strong camera network unmanned from 2010.

He is one of a number of community figures to speak out against the raft of cut-backs announced by the city council as it tries to plug the £4.3 million hole in its budget, ranging from angry elderly people’s groups to threatened community and arts centres.

Chief Supt Reynolds, south Worcestershire’s head of policing, suggested that criminals would be more difficult both to detect and to convict without the support of the CCTV operators, who regularly alert police to ongoing incidents and train their cameras on potential crimes to gather evidence.

He said: “That dynamic element of the system is crucial, really. You could have it on a roaming (setting), but it becomes haphazard on what it records. If an incident occurs and the camera happens not to be trained on that place at that time, it becomes useless in terms of that incident. It might capture another incident [elsewhere] – but that’s more by luck than judgement.”

Chief Supt Reynolds said CCTV operators played a crucial co-ordinating role in fighting crime, keeping in close contact with city shops, pubs and clubs as well as police, He said: “It’s part of an integrated system across the city. If a club reports trouble, the camera operators will be listening and would point their camera at the venue. That could be a very important part of the evidence-gathering process.

“The system could still be a good deterrent, but in terms of proactive use there won’t be any. It’s like having an automatic car without a driver.”

He said CCTV played a wider role than just fighting crime, helping co-ordinate responses to major events such as flooding and contributing to a “wider sense of security and well-being” in the city.

Announcing the planned cuts yesterday, city council leader Simon Geraghty said police were “the lead partner” on fighting crime and expressed hope they might take over the manning of the CCTV network.

But Chief Supt Reynolds – while stressing he did not want to create a ‘them and us’ situation with the council – made it clear his own budget will not stretch to manning the council’s CCTV system.

He said: “This is not a police responsibility. This is a city-owned system. We have had this partnership arrangement since about 1989. But if this decision goes ahead we have 12 months to find a solution – I’m still hopeful we can do so.”