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Bristol City Council's CCTV control centre, praised recently by the Government and the BBC, will be visited by police, local authority and other representatives from organisations from all over the country on 8 March.

This will be followed the next day by a national conference on how to make the best use of CCTV systems to make the streets safer, reduce the fear of crime and detect serious offences which is being hosted by Bristol and South Gloucestershire City councils and Global MSC Security.

“Many people from throughout the country have arranged to visit us on 8 March to see how the control room operates.”said Gordon McLanaghan, the manager and who will also be speaking at the conference.
The centre has a very good reputation nationally. A recent BBC Radio 4 programme , “Under Surveillance” heavily featured the Bristol system which they concluded was highly effective.

"Our operators are highly experienced in spotting incidents and alerting the police who can act immediately. The CCTV footage has been of vital use in deterring or helping convict criminals for example the case of the Isa Ibrahim who was convicted of explosive and terrorism charges last year" said Gordon.

So successful is the CCTV system developed by the Council, that it is being used as a national example of good practice by the Home Office. Recently the Programme Manager for National CCTV Strategy commented “This is an excellent example, you can be proud of the work the team are doing which provides significant support to Government recommendations in the National CCTV strategy”.

Other Councils and other organisations have been using the Bristol Control centre which has state of the art equipment. For example South Gloucestershire Council has been working in partnership with Bristol City Council by using the Bristol Control room to monitor their cameras.

“This is a really good example of two Authorities working together to use the system in a most effective way and this makes Bristol a highly suitable place to hold this conference “said Derek Maltby of Global MSC Security.

“Since the National CCTV Strategy was published in October 2007, organisations, especially local authorities have been endeavouring to interpret and adopt its recommendations. The Emergency Control Centre operated by Bristol City Council is held up as an example of great co-operation between the services it provides for neighbouring authorities” said Mr Maltby.

The good practice that is being spread out from Bristol includes camera sharing and networking with local retail centres and businesses. Bristol City Council has also pioneered using the control room (open 24 hours every day) and staff to generate income by working for other Councils, organisations and business across the country. Apart from monitoring the screens, they provide services such as monitoring lone workers, being the contact point for various Care Lines and running security monitoring and fire alarm services.

“We have a system which is second to none but also the income that the Bristol team are raising means the costs for running this highly efficient and pioneering service is not falling on Bristol Council tax payers and that we can continually improve the technology” said Cllr Gary Hopkins, Cabinet member for the Environment and Community Safety.

More information from Vicky O’Loughlin on 0117 9223463 or 07595645490