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A £23,000 network of talking CCTV cameras which will speak to troublemakers was officially launched in West Bromwich town centre today.
Speakers have been attached to the existing seven CCTV cameras in the town centre, enabling a team in a control room on the outskirts of town to reprimand troublemakers.
Eleven-year-old Charlotte Corcoran, from West Bromwich, was the voice of the system at its official launch this afternoon after winning a poster competition last term at King George V Primary School.
Monitoring staff from Sandwell Homes use a script to speak to people thought to need “telling off.”
The money for the speaking cameras has come from the Home Office’s Respect task force. Sandwell’s talking CCTV system follows the success of similar initiatives elsewhere in the country, in particular Middlesbrough.
Charlotte’s winning poster for the competition, and those of six runners-up are set to be displayed around the town centre.
Councillor Derek Rowley, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for safer communities, said: “Talking CCTV is an additional tool for tackling crime, anti-social behaviour and environmental problems.
11 Comments
And what are the trouble-makers going to do? They’re going to be rude ! A bloody stupid idea.
Now if you play some annoying music, say ‘The Birdie Song’ that may work. LOL
Thanks for the editing E & S, even though I masked out the offensive words! ‘..going to be rude..’ just doesn’t have the same clout !
It makes me laugh, this money could be spent on a 21 million pixel sentryscope, most cctv pixelates when you try and retrieve an image the sentryscope has 21 million pixels and is phenomenal cctv companys should be aware of new technolgy and not just adding speakers
And I can just imagine how eloquent the telling off is going to sound down in deepest Smethwick — Ey, Yaw!! Yaw`de berra stop ocktin like a dingle.
Funny that its been launched in West Brom! lol
Reprimanding voices from the sky are frankly ridiculous. If we think we can police the streets from a desk with a microphone we are living in cloud cuckoo land.
its a laugh !!!
i hope the scripts are in a thousand languages otherwise they are wasting their time.
In response to Paul Digweeds comments, I very much doubt if the entire speaking camera system (8 cameras covering over a mile I am led to believe) came to the cost of even ONE SentryScope camera. At £26,000.00 a time installed, SentryScopes are totally unsuited to multiple camera town centre systems. The talking type of system has been proven in Middlesborough, Coventry and various other councils and has a far more serious use than the trivial “litter dropping” detection that appears to have been highlighted. When used to warn potentially aggressive persons that they are being monitored BEFORE they commit a crime, they have proven to be an excellent deterrent against assaults, attacks, street robberies and property damage. Well done to Sandwell for having the foresight to spend the money on something proven to work. I have worked for both the Police and in the Security industry and know what works and what doesn’t. I wonder if Mr Digweed works for the sales side of a camera manufacturer by any chance?
Great System, a credit to the council, Digiweed r u a rep?
And how much will it cost in the long run to man the speaking and watching cameras in the wrong run, alot more than £26,000 i’d of thought over the period of only 1 year in man hours.
A clear picture can say a thousand words!!!