COMMUNITY SAFETY
1
On camera
Did you know the borough is protected by a
650-camera CCTV system? As Philip Brent reports,
it has been upgraded by the council and now
helps police and enforcement officers deal with
three times as many incidents.
Y
ou may have noticed changes to cameras around the borough,
particularly in town centres, and this is thanks to a £2.5million
upgrade carried out since 2016 to provide CCTV using the latest
technology. It has dramatically enhanced what it can do – with vastly
improved coverage, and better links into police systems.
The borough’s control room in Perceval House in Ealing is one of the most
advanced in the UK, providing support to emergency services at crucial times.
Thanks to the upgrade, it now has improved camera positions to allow for
better views and the majority of the cameras in our town cameras also now
use high definition (HD), providing four times the quality of standard images.
Borough police commander Paul Martin said: “Why wouldn’t you want
CCTV? Especially the HD cameras the council is operating now. The team
there can inform us of illegal activity while its happening and feed us
footage while we send officers to the scene, and it can record evidence in
incredible detail. It helps us catch criminals and also improves the chances
of conviction in court because they are caught in the act on HD footage.”
Councillor Joanna Camadoo, the council’s cabinet member for inclusion and
community safety, said: “Making the upgrades to the borough’s CCTV system
has put Ealing at the forefront of crime detection. Providing high quality video
to council services and police to tackle crime within the borough has proven
valuable in keeping our residents safe.”
Read the full story at ealingnewsextra.co.uk/features/CCTV
22
around ealing February 2019
The council is considering evidence
for a borough-wide PSPO (public
spaces protection order). Currently,
there are four localised PSPOs in place
to improve the quality of life for residents
and reduce anti-social behaviour but now
the council is considering introducing
one across the entire borough. Prior to
any decision, a consultation will take
place and will be published online at
www.ealing.gov.uk/pspo in spring.
2
Have you been caught out by fraud
or know of someone who has? You
may already know some of the tricks
fraudsters use, but the rise of the internet
means new ones are being invented all
the time. To find out how modern fraud
works, what you can do to guard against
it and how to report it, watch our video of
Inspector Mark Hughes from Ealing Police
outlining the 10 golden rules to prevent
fraud, at ealingnewsextra.co.uk/features/
fraud-tips
3
Since it was set up last June, the
OWL network has found missing
children, stopped scams and helped
police gather intelligence. The online service
provides residents with regular local crime
prevention advice and also area-specific
alerts by email and is run by the police and
Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators. It is
free for anyone to join, at www.owl.co.uk
– and more than 13,000 Ealing residents
have already done so. Read the full story at
ealingnewsextra.co.uk/features/owl