Centralised CCTV control room for Newark and Sherwood, a huge win for public safety

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Over the last 18 months we have been working hard to reduce anti-social behaviour in Newark and Sherwood and this is now down by 18%.

“However, we are not complacent and plans for a new control room will be a step change in protecting the public. This is a huge win for the safety of our residents.”

At present, Newark and Sherwood’s public realm cameras are controlled outside of the district at Police Headquarters in Arnold and require updating.

Proposals to bring this service alongside internal CCTV systems from across a range of sites in Newark and Sherwood into a dedicated new CCTV control room were yesterday approved by members at a meeting of Cabinet.

The move to a centralised system will include all the council’s independent, stand-alone CCTV systems into one new control room. These are currently situated at key locations across the district, including Castle House and its car park, Brunel Drive, Palace Theatre, National Civil War Centre, Jubilee Bridge, Buttermarket, Vicar Water Country Park, Ollerton Customer Service Centre and across all Active4Today sites.

Each of these systems are currently managed separately and the footage is not directly monitored. If there is an incident, the footage has to be reviewed retrospectively, and this sometimes requires an officer to attend the site, wherever that may be.

The District Council has been supported by an external CCTV specialist throughout the project to assist with the design and creation of the in-house 24/7 control room, which is technically complex.

Councillor Taylor continued: “The current way of working is far too reactive and requires staff to attend multiple sites to review footage following an incident. I am pleased to be bringing all our local CCTV systems into our district in the form of a new control room, allowing us to monitor our district 24/7 in real time and prevent rather than just react to anyone flouting the law.

“This is a huge and exciting project. Being proactive against crime will result in an increased number of prosecutions and make our streets safer for everyone.”