Deputy Mayor Calls For Better CCTV Integration And Investment Across North Yorkshire

Jo Coles, the Deputy Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, has highlighted the need for improved coordination and investment in surveillance camera networks to enhance community safety.

The Deputy Mayor for York and North Yorkshire is urging a closer look at how surveillance cameras are utilised across the region to ensure they are working effectively for local communities.

Jo Coles believes that closed-circuit television networks are a vital tool for public safety, but she has expressed concern about how disjointed the current setup can be. At present, the responsibility for these surveillance systems lies primarily with local councils, which means the network is not always fully integrated with law enforcement operations.

The Deputy Mayor has highlighted a specific issue within police control rooms, where staff are unable to view camera feeds from across the entire policing area simultaneously. Because the systems are managed separately by two different local authorities, the police face blind spots when trying to monitor ongoing situations across the wider region. She is keen to see improved collaboration between the councils and the police force to streamline this process and bring all the footage into a single, accessible location.

Jo Coles said:

"I think CCTV has a really important role to play in the patch, certainly in North Yorkshire, the local authority have been looking at the provision in North Yorkshire because it sits with the local authority, so it's a local authority issue to oversee, but I would also hope that they would work in partnership with the police on how that can be optimised in terms of it working effectively.

In terms of things like the police being able to monitor um what is going on across the patch, it's always frustrated me that in the control room you can only see CCTV from one part of the patch, you can't see the other CCTV operations from the two local authorities all in one place, which obviously is a frustration."

Beyond the logistical challenges of integrating camera feeds, the Deputy Mayor is also focused on the financial aspects of upgrading the region's surveillance capabilities.

She pointed out that the landscape of security technology has shifted dramatically in recent years, making high-quality equipment much more affordable for public bodies. Systems that previously required significant financial investment can now be acquired for a fraction of the price.

This reduction in cost, dropping from thousands of pounds to just hundreds, opens up new opportunities to enhance safety initiatives in local neighbourhoods. By working closely with community safety partnerships, the Deputy Mayor hopes to identify areas where this more cost-effective technology can be deployed to deliver better value for money for taxpayers.

"I certainly do feel that the technology around cameras and monitoring has changed significantly.

I do think it's important to look at where value for money can be delivered and it may be that technology that used to cost thousands of pounds and now costs hundreds of pounds becomes more viable for different community safety projects and therefore that we should look at that.

I'm very happy to talk through the community safety partnerships in terms of what they think would help in terms of community safety and again making sure that partnership is working between the police and the and the two local authorities."

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