CCTV upgrade plan taking shape

PROGRESS has been made on the upgrading of the CCTV network in central Invercargill — but it may be nearly a year until the system is up and working.

The camera network came under the spotlight after a council meeting in May showed the cameras were in poor condition and needed to be upgraded.

Invercargill has nine CCTV cameras in the city, but only one was working.

Police said at the May meeting they could not see number plates or recognise faces from the cameras and the CCTV network was not helping in trying to find missing people and reduce crime.

In a report to the council’s infrastructural services committee meeting yesterday, council staff said a workshop involving interested parties — a stakeholder engagement group — met in July.

The key issue raised about the CCTV network at the meeting was that people felt less safe in the central city.

There was antisocial behaviour, caused by a range of social and economic exclusion factors.

The physical environment had changed and resources across multiple stakeholders were not being maximised to address the issue.

To resolve those issues, the focus needed to be on improved

CCTV, a unified approach between the council and community, better communication and community guardians, the staff said.

They had completed a highlevel internal review of the current council CCTV operations, across all facilities and services.

That had established that there was the potential to use the existing network but at the same time give wider coverage and more support.

During the review, they identified that the council did not have capacity and capability inhouse to deliver on the project, the staff said.

As a result, they proactively approached the market to procure the necessary technical support.

The technical support was to engage with stakeholders to design and document CCTV needs in the central city.

The next step would be to come up with a plan to upgrade and deploy the CCTV.

The indicative timeframes for project completion from the suppliers were up to 11 months from the date they take over management of the project, the staff said.

That included a two to threemonth time contingency for unexpected delays, as some specialist equipment was difficult to source at present.

Council staff had also identified the need for a comprehensive review of CCTV policies and guidelines to ensure the council was meeting its obligations for storage and access of recordings.

Following the appointment of the specialist technical consultant, the stakeholder engagement group would be invited to participate in a further workshop to start establishing where CCTV coverage was best positioned.

That would identify the equipment required, so the specification of new equipment could be prepared for tendering.