I have just been told that the Sheffield City Council control CCTV in Sheffield while neighbouring councils, e.g. Barnsley, Doncaster etc. the control of the CCTV is by the local police force. Can anybody substantiate this, and if it's true.....why?

Yes thats true!

The CCTV in Sheffield is currently being controlled solely by Sheffield City Council, i once asked a City Centre Ambassador
why South Yorkshire Police arent in charge and he said.......

It's due to the "Government Street Crime Incentive".

This incentive aims to provide more policing on the street by employing local council employees into these positions on a full time basis.

Sheffield are one of the first in the country to pilot this scheme and apparently the figure so far show it to be a huge success.

The Main Aims Of the Incentive.

"To Cut the level of Street Crime on Sheffield streets".

Robberies down 19.5%. Your chances of being robbed in South Yorkshire are now half what they were 2 years ago.

"To Decrease the level unemployed in Sheffield"

Sheffield City Council Secure Operations team now employ upto 200 local people in comparison to 1999's 24 people.

You've gotta admit, it does look pretty impressive on paper, and its supposedly a pilot scheme thats due to be followed by all the others in South Yorkshire!

But what do we expect of our government?

Is there a catch somewhere?

It would be great if the system was kept working but in Tinsley two of the three cameras are inoperable. This is due to someone cutting the cable whilst carrying out the Tinsley Viaduct maintenance.

Could we have the cameras restored please, it has been several months since this occurance and I'm sure any health & safety issues can be addressed in that time scale.

I'm all for the CCTV, especially in the city centre, but I was surprised to hear that the area down by the Leadmill isn't covered (unless some new camera's have now been installed).

Saw some jobs advertised recently for CCTV operators.