Hereford CCTV Funding
BBC Radio Interview with Mike Truelove, Herefod BID CEO.
Herefordshire Council is to plug a funding gap in CCTV running costs after warnings a shortfall would be "devastating" and a danger to public safety.
The county's network of 179 cameras - which costs about £200,000 a year to monitor and maintain - is used by councils, businesses, and West Mercia Police to investigate crime and respond to anti-social behaviour.
Mike Truelove, Hereford BID CEO, was invited on BBC radio to discuss his thoughts and how it will affect the Hereford BID members.
Hereford's city centre Business Improvement District (BID) group had shared fears of a 50% cut to operating hours, which could have made, it said, the night-time economy less safe.
"It deals with thousands and thousands of incidents each year... it provides the police with key intelligence. It's the ability for businesses to report to CCTV, which can then immediately monitor a suspect, trace where they're going from street to street, and coordinate with the police to intercept. You can say goodbye to all that," Mike Truelove, CEO of Hereford BID, had warned.
Significant upgrades had been made to the CCTV network in recent years, partly in response to a series of sexual offences in July and August 2022.
Mike Truelove, the chair of Hereford's BID group, had warned the loss of CCTV monitoring would have been "unfathomable."
