Idea of Volunteer CCTV Operators Under Fire
With the rising number of Britain’s CCTV cameras in operation, the need for more operators has become apparent and this has especially been recognised by the police. With so many recording hours it is difficult for operators to watch every channel of surveillance and the idea of recruiting volunteers was recently raised.
Dorset police are the first to atempt the scheme and are looking for “community-minded people” to help with surveillance operations.
However, police federation chairman, Clive Chamberlain said it was “policing on the cheap”, and went on to say: “I think policing should be about zero tolerance not policing at zero cost”.
Mr Chamberlain stated he would rather see professional personnel working from an official police control room.
Due to the Dorset area being the countries second worse funded force, the scheme will go ahead.
Volunteers will not only view camera footage but also control the cameras and communicate with police in the area as and when an incident occurs.