Villagers pay to keep an eye on crime
Daily Telegraph (Filed: 07/05/2004)
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With donations from traders and residents, a parish council is
installing CCTV cameras to help its beleaguered police officers.
Stewart Payne reports from Stockbridge
As crime waves go, two fat brown trout tickled out of a stream by a man who then
denies all knowledge as police listen to them flapping around in his van, hardly
suggests a cause for alarm.
Yet Stockbridge, in the heart of rural Hampshire, where ducks walk the High Street
and the police station enters the best kept garden contest, is believed to be
the first village in England where residents have paid to install CCTV cameras.
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Concern about a declining police presence is growing in the countryside.
People fear that as more officers are moved to combat crime in
the towns and cities, criminals will turn their attentions to the
rich pickings offered by under-policed villages.
Traders in Stockbridge's busy High Street say that outsiders are responsible
for almost all the instances of crime from which they suffer.
After listening to their concerns, David Baseley, 70, the chairman of Stockbridge
Parish Council (adult pop 500), decided to adopt a radical approach.
"
CCTV has been very successful in fighting and detecting crime in urban
areas," he said. "Our worry was that the criminal would find
us an attractive alternative because we have no such methods of fighting
lawlessness."
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So, with donations from traders, residents and proceeds from
the sale of a local pictorial history book, the parish council
has just paid for two cameras, mounted on the roof of the Grosvenor
Hotel in the centre of the village. A third camera is to follow
soon.
Villagers were quick to point out yesterday that a much higher sum had been spent
on a ramp for the disabled at the police station, which opens for only three
hours a day.
Mr Baseley, a retired company director, said: "We felt the burglar would
see us as a soft touch. But 'sleepy old Stockbridge' is now under 24-hour surveillance
and we hope that will be as much a deterrent as a tool for identifying criminals.
" Although we enjoy a good relationship with our local police, we feel they
are under-resourced and there are not enough of them."
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Paul Robinson, of the village's award-winning family butchers,
is one of those who contributed to the cost of installing CCTV.
He said: "The village police station is only open for one hour a day in
the morning, Monday to Friday, yet legislation has meant that it must have disabled
access. That £50,000 would give us two extra police officers for a year.
"
I have had two thefts from the till by a man who also indecently assaulted
one of my female staff. I dialled 999 because the village police station
was closed and it took an officer 40 minutes to get here. CCTV footage
would have captured him leaving the shop and perhaps recorded his car registration
number."
Valerie Holman, the manager of the Grosvenor Hotel, said she was delighted to
have the cameras on the roof.
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Recently a thief ran away with eight bottles of Champagne, on
display as part
of a refurbishment celebration. "I think he would have stood out on CCTV," she
said.
Sgt Ian Ashbolt, in charge of the village police station, is familiar with local
complaints about the lack of officers on patrol. He said the area did not have
a big crime problem. His force had a formula to work out how many officers were
required in relation to the number of crimes. Mr Baseley scoffs and Sgt Ashbolt
smiles. "We know we do not always live up to the expectations of our parish
councillors," he said.
" It is true that what crime there is, is carried out largely by people
from outside the area. We have arrested people from as far away as Leeds and
the West Country.
"
But most crime is of a petty nature, although that does not diminish it
in our eyes nor in the eyes of those who experience it."
He has seven officers to patrol an area of 300 square miles. His police station
is open from 9am to 10am and again between 5pm and 7pm. "The rest of the
time my officers are out and about, or dealing with paperwork," said Sgt
Ashbolt.
In the year ending in March, only 371 crimes were reported in the area. Thefts
from vehicles accounted for much if it, while poaching is another local worry.
The Test, which flows through the centre of the village, offers some of the best,
and most exclusive, angling in the country.
Sgt Ashbolt said the man who made off with the trout was given a caution, but
only after he had put the fish back.
The CCTV footage is relayed to the police station. Although it is not monitored,
its pictures are digitally recorded on to a hard disc and images can be quickly
retrieved to help investigate crimes reported in the High Street. The system
can also be accessed remotely by authorized personnel, therefore Mr Baseley can
watch live or recorded images from his home.
Although mainly privately-funded, Hampshire police have made a contribution to
the costs of installation. A spokesman said: "The message to criminals now
is: 'Do not come to Stockbridge, unless you want to get caught.' " |
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Reproduced courtesy of Daily Telegraph.
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