Falkirk Council looks into bringing in mobile CCTV units to combat anti-social behaviour

During an online meeting yesterday the executive agreed to locate the council’s CCTV/Digital Alarms Hub with the ICT datacentre and other key council services in Larbert, terminating the contract with Enigma CCTV and, through TUBE, bringing the employees in-house.

According to the report, this will “offer a real opportunity for a significantly improved, cost-effective and sustainable service delivery model” and help “to integrate our approach and improve the safety” for communities.

It had already been agreed that, to establish an in-house CCTV/Digital Alarms Hub, the current CCTV monitoring service would be relocated from Falkirk Police Station into Falkirk Council premises.

The new Hub could be re-located as a stand-alone hub into any Falkirk Council premises, however, since that decision was taken, further opportunities have been identified to save costs, reduce duplication and maximise resilience by co-locating the new Hub with the ICT datacentre.

Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said: “It’s good to see it start to take some shape and go forward.”

Councillor Gary Bouse said it was a “common sense approach” to co-locate the CCTV/Digital Alarms Hub with the ICT services in Larbert.

“It’s putting the right people with the same skill sets together in the same group,” he added.

To further enhance community safety, Councillor Robert Bissett put forward an amendment – an additional recommendation – to look into siting mobile CCTV units in areas which are having problems with anti-social beahaviour.

He stated: “There are anti-social behaviour hot spots throughout the district and mobile CCTV can be a useful tool in detecting and preventing these behaviours. The council should also note there are 15 mobile units in the Stirling Council area that are considered a valuable asset in reducing anti-social behaviour.

"The outcome of a recent pilot scheme in Bowhouse Square in Grangemouth saw police and retailers agree that it had reduced the incidence of anti-social behariour.”

Councillor Bissett requested a further report be brought to the next meeting of the executive, setting out the number of units required in Falkirk and whether funding already agreed by Falkirk Council will allow for mobile units to be procured.