Welsh Councils Back CCTV Investment

Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford to get 46 new CCTV cameras for crime prevention.

13:44 06 July 2018

Carmarthenshire police is reinvesting in CCTV cameras following an analysis of crime patterns in the area. 19 cameras will be installed in Llanelli, 17 in Carmarthen and 10 in Ammanford.

 

The council had a total of 87 CCTV cameras that they stopped monitoring three years ago to save money. However, the cameras still recorded footage that the police can access if required. Currently, only 35 of the original cameras are working but some were dated or not fit-for-purpose. 

 

Councillor Cefin Campbell said: "Given enough money we would obviously pay for more CCTV cameras. In these days of austerity we have to make priorities."

 

Asked if the CCTV cameras will monitor certain areas, such as the homelessness charity shelter, he said: "I think the only difficulty is when CCTV becomes an invasion of privacy.

 

"There is always a line between using them as deterrents, as sources of evidence for prosecution - but there is a thin line, and I think there may be a debate about using CCTV to look at people sleeping rough.”

 

The report before the executive board said: "(The council's) Leisure services have indicated an interest in maintaining certain cameras at Llanelli Leisure Centre and Millennium Coastal Path, and parking services have indicated that they would want to maintain 3 cameras at the multi-storey car park in Llanelli."