In an article in the Telegraph, the Metropolitan Police has admitted that fewer than one crime is solved every 1,000 CCTV cameras.

An internal report released by the Metropolitan Police under Freedom of Information laws disclosed that more than one million of these are in London alone. However, it cast doubt on the use of the cameras as a crime fighting tool.

It said: “For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year.”

The report, written by Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, who runs the Metropolitan Police’s Visual Images Identifications and Detections Office, found that the public “have a high expectation of CCTV and are frequently told they are captured on camera 300 times per day”.

Public confidence was dented when the police often stated there was no CCTV working when a crime has been committed, it said. It also said that increasingly members of the public were complaining that officers had not bothered to view available CCTV images when trying to track down criminals.

It disclosed a “significant rise in the level of complaints from the public, where it is perceived that police have not viewed CCTV. This is now approaching 100 per year.”

You can view the article in full here

Global MSC Security has been appointed by Belfast City Council to carry out a review of the existing CCTV systems at Belfast City Hall.

The City Hall is currently undergoing major refurbishment and will be completed in August 2009. As part of the refurbishment project, an upgrade to a number of CCTV camera locations has been agreed and will be wired to a central location within City Hall.

The Council will be looking at refurbishing the control room once the upgrade to the system has been completed.

We are very pleased to announce that Zenitel (UK) will be sponsoring the Go Karting Championship on 16th November 2009 as part of the Safe Newcastle & Global MSC Seminar. Unfortunately, the event is now fully booked but if you would like to register for a reserve space, please let us know and we will place you on the reserve list.

We are also very please to announce that the following exhibitors will be sponsoring the wine at the networking dinner being hosted at the Gosforth Park Marriott Hotel on the evening of 16th November prior to the Seminar: