Where’s CCTV we were promised for crime spot?
RESIDENTS AND TRADERS FURIOUS AT DELAY
IT is more than four months since residents were promised a CCTV camera at a crime hotspot in Arnold - and all that’s gone up so far is a pole.
The walkway between Smithy Crescent and Front Street is plagued by gangs of youths behaving badly, according to residents and business owners.
Elderly locals are reportedly avoiding it on their way to the fish and chip shop.
One man visiting the Salvation Army shop had a vodka bottle thrown at him with such force that it smashed through the front and rear of a nearby car last Friday afternoon.
The target, Allan Scoley, a 48-yearold from Leicester, said: “It could have been life-changing. You don’t need that when you’re at work.”
On June 3, residents marched following three stabbings in Arnold and were told by Gedling Borough Council that a CCTV camera would be installed on the walkway .
Although the council says it is working on the matter, and it should be put in by the end of the month, locals are not happy.
Alyson Edward, 40, a local business owner, said: “I will believe it when I see it. They have not kept us updated and there have been no police around. They have just put up the pole and left it.
“I saw an old couple coming down the steps and they kicked their walking sticks from under the older man. It’s horrendous. Everybody is absolutely petrified to come down the steps.
“I think the CCTV will solve it but nothing is going to happen until someone is hurt.”
Iris Hallam, who works at a nearby shop, had to clear up two needles she found on Thursday and said: “We were promised that things would change but it’s worse now than before the march. We have waited months - it’s just not good enough.
“If the CCTV is not up, the police and community officers should be patrolling but we do not see them. We saw them a lot for a month after the march but gradually they fell off.
“People are walking right round to avoid the street. I’m frustrated nothing has been done.”
A barber in Front Street who lives on the road said his car had been scratched four times in the last eight months – so severely he suspected it was done with a knife.
After one incident he had to buy a new car. Mike Aslan, 39, is offering a cash reward for any information that will lead to a conviction and said: “I’m thinking of moving - I’ve got family in Clifton and they’re not scared to go out at night.”
The council has been working to put up the CCTV since the Enough is Enough march and submitted a planning application in July.
The pole was installed in September but the problem has been getting the planning approval, finding a supplier and digging up the road to actually install the camera, according to the council.
Councillor David Ellis, portfolio holder for public protection, said: “We have made commitments to residents that the CCTV will be in place as soon as possible and we are working as quickly as the process allows us, to ensure this is the case.”
The camera cost £12,920 and its operatives are already employed by the council. It will be monitored 24/7 at a central control room, along with others across Arnold and will be able to be controlled and moved from there.
Police inspector Steven O’neill, Nottinghamshire Police’s local policing inspector for the Gedling area, said officers “can’t be on every street corner at all times” but felt they have measures in place to deal with day-to-day issues.
He said police would have a higher profile after a rare, more serious incident, such as the stabbings earlier in the year, and prioritised their resources depending on the level of threat, risk and harm.
“A major part of the work we do to help keep our local communities safe is in how we work alongside our partners, including the Neighbourhood Wardens at Gedling Borough Council, to coordinate our joined-up response to dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour,” he said.