Councils team up to share cost of CCTV control room

Two neighbouring councils are to make their crime-busting offensive more efficient by agreeing to share CCTV cameras.

Hart and Rushmoor are set to sign an agreement for a joint service based at Rushmoor’s Farnborough offices which, it is argued would result in greater periods of manned cover for Hart’s cameras, a pooling of staff expertise and knowledge and better opportunities for staff transferring to Rushmoor.

At the same time it would mean that operators with local knowledge would still be retained and there would be the facility to use cameras for other roles, notably parking enforcement.

Both councils are keen to upgrade CCTV services and a shared control room would enable them to reduce the running costs and therefore open the way for improvements to the system, with the one being used by Hart council now being regarded as past its sell by date.

It is anticipated that the change will not require redundancies and Hart council is expected to agree to the scheme at its next meeting on November 1.

It is seen as a way forward that will reduce costs yet improve the standard of CCTV coverage for the benefit of both communities.