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South Ayrshire CCTV Scaled Back
Monitoring of CCTV cameras across South Ayrshire has been scaled back following council’s decision to close the centre.
12:05 16 February 2021
South Ayrshire Council’s decision to stop the live monitoring of CCTV cameras have been criticised by residents and described as a “complete disregard to safety” amid ongoing security concerns.
Monitoring of the public CCTC network is based at the John Pollock Centre, which is scheduled to be demolished. The CCTV recording facility is set to be relocated to McCalls Avenue Business Centre but until it is set up, the monitoring of CCTV cameras will be put on hold.
A council spokesperson said: “We took the decision in March 2020 to transfer the staff and resources previously involved in this activity, based in the John Pollock Centre, to the South Ayrshire health and social care partnership (HSCP).
“This allowed for a focus on community alarms which comprised the majority of their workload.
“CCTV monitoring is still undertaken by Police Scotland with the council providing a recording facility.
“The John Pollock Centre is planned to be demolished and the CCTV recording facility will be relocated to our McCalls Avenue Business Centre.
“We have investment identified to renew all of the cameras within the public CCTV network and are currently working with partners in the community safety partnership to ascertain how this can be provided and implemented going forward.”
Chief Inspector Brian Anderson, area commander at South Ayrshire, said: “Police Scotland acknowledges the council’s decision to close the John Pollock Centre in Ayr where CCTV monitoring currently takes place.
“We are working with the council and other partners to identify an appropriate future operating model to ensure local communities continue to benefit from the provision of CCTV across South Ayrshire, including future investment in the camera network.”