Make Swansea Safer with 100% Police access to Council CCTV

Labour's Geraint Davies has called for Swansea police to be given 100% access to live Council CCTV to help keep Swansea's streets safe. His proposal comes hot on the heels of his Friday night- Saturday morning shift with Swansea police in and around Wind Street a week ago.

Geraint Davies, Labour's Swansea West Parliamentary Candidate, was a Council Leader before he was last an MP and it was as Council Leader that he granted the police unlimited access to Council CCTV to cut crime. 

"When I was a Council Leader I set up joint working of the town's CCTV with the police to allow them continuous surveillance of the town centre and other trouble spots. This lead to a significant reduction in crime alongside more efficient use of tax-payers money.  

"The police have 100% access to Council CCTV elsewhere in Britain and in Swansea the Council still decides what images the police receive. At the moment the Council provides a patchwork of CCTV according to their own judgements which can risk important information being screened out of policing decisions. The police should form an integral part of the control team as is the case in Cardiff. All CCTV should be available to the trained eye of the police to ensure they are best able to keep our streets safe. It is particularly important that trouble can be pre-empted by the police through early warning signs. For example during the Christmas period a continuous steam of CCTV from Wind St should be available.

 "In Swansea there is a growing partnership to combat crime and more can be done. The public have a right t to expect that the police are given immediate and comprehensive CCTV surveillance of our city centre.  This  would help to ensure immediate response to incidents and to pre-empt problems as trouble develops.  

"This would mean a safer city and more effective use of our hard-earned taxes."