Council approves CCTV for Lerwick

Story link: Council approves CCTV for Lerwick by Jan Harris

Shetland Islands Council has approved the installation of 13 CCTV cameras in Lerwick town centre.

An application for one additional camera will be considered by planners in February.

Images from the Council’s new £200,000 CCTV system will be relayed to Lerwick police station for recording and monitoring.

The decision to approve the system is a victory for the Shetland Community Safety Partnership, which initially proposed the scheme in 2003.

The new CCTV system is expected to help reduce anti-social behaviour in the town centre, and also reduce the number of assaults which take place.

From January 2007 to October 2007 65 assaults were recorded by police in the Lerwick area, together with 135 cases of vandalism and 96 breaches of the peace.