Fears for public safety in Birmingham as disruption expected while CCTV is upgraded
Birmingham City Council insists they're keeping disruption to a minimum.
There's fears of public safety in Birmingham after CCTV upgrades in the city are expected to cause disruption.
While CCTV cameras around the city are out of action, people and their safety are at risk - according to Westside BID and Birmingham Local Conservatives.
It's after we've heard from Birmingham City Council that it's upgrading the network, meaning some of the live feed isn't being monitored or accessible to police.
Mike Olly from Westside BID's been telling us - CCTV is invaluable to keep people safe.
"Without CCTV there, it takes away a fundamentally important link for us to communicate with the police and all partner agencies, so it does actually heighten the risk to the public as a result of this.
"The council need to sharpen up it's communication skills. It needs to act more in partnership, working with those that it sits down with on a regular basis."
The council insists they're keeping disruption to a minimum despite Birmingham Local Conservatives also expressing concerns over public safety...
"It has been revealed that upon switching from the previous CCTV system to a new system, police were left unable to access the system.
"This has effectively left 90% of the City Centre in a CCTV black spot. The system is operated and maintained by Labour-run Birmingham City Council, who made the decision to press on with the switch of systems despite concerns over the proposed process being raised by opposition councillors in Cabinet Committee."
Birmingham City Council has responded to concerns saying, they're keeping interference to a minimum...
"CCTV has a significant benefit on the safety of our communities and these systems are currently being upgraded to improve the quality of the council’s CCTV network.
"During this work, there will be planned disruption to how live CCTV feeds are transmitted, which is being kept to a minimum by our technical partners, however some disruption is inevitable during upgrades of this nature."
They continued: "Citizens and businesses should be reassured that the city’s CCTV network remains fully operational, with cameras fully monitored 24/7 by experienced and professional CCTV operators.
"The council continues to work with partners, including West Midlands Police, to ensure any planned disruption is kept to an absolute minimum."