Cameras 'will help deter criminals'

LIKE watchful guard towers in the sky, three new CCTV cameras are now keeping a silent vigil over the streets of Seaford.

The town is home to a total of seven cameras, each mounted on high poles at 'strategic' points in the town centre. The new additions, which cost around 99,000, went on-line recently.

Paid for in part by a major Home Office grant, they have been placed in Church Street, Place Lane and on the seafront overlooking the Salts recreation ground.

The others are located at the top and bottom ends of Broad Street (also covering Clinton Place and the High Street), at Station Approach and outside Safeway in Dane Road.

Town clerk Len Fisher said the competition was stiff in the bidding process to get the money for the extra cameras but that Seaford Town Council was up to the challenge. 'It was definitely tough,' he said. 'But our bid seemed to hit all the right buttons with the Home Office.

'The cameras will definitely help to deter criminals and protect Seaford, but there is still a very important part that the public has to play. If anyone witnesses a crime in the town, they must report it to the police so that they can use the evidence picked up by the cameras.'

Seaford's CCTV network has come under fire from local commentators recently. In June, vandals destroyed Seaford In Bloom flower displays while the cameras were pointing in the wrong direction.

It was then revealed that crime on the costal strip (including Seaford, Newhaven, Peacehaven and East Saltdean) was up by more than a third. Seaford town councillor Les Whittle was quick to condemn the cameras.

However, Mr Fisher said this week: 'Of course, there will be times when the cameras will miss things. But these occasions are far outweighed by the amount of crime they prevent and the number of criminals they bring to book.'