Shooting shows up CCTV need in Mallow
MALLOW became the centre of national media attention last Thursday evening after a dramatic incident unfolded in the Spa area of the town during which a man was shot by an armed member of the gardaí.
Edward Denny, who was working at the Applegreen service station just yards from the incident likened it to something normally seen on TV as gardaí surrounded a car which had been stopped at a checkpoint.
“To be honest it was all a bit surreal. This kind of thing just does not happen in Mallow. The scene was more like something you would see on TV in the Bronx,” said Edward.
The incident has prompted local Labour county councillor James Kennedy to call for the mothballed €170,000 CCTV system for Mallow town to be put back into service and linked directly to local garda station.
“If ever a situation spelled out how important it is to have CCTV in the town surely last Thursday evenings incident was it,” said Cllr Kennedy.
THE shooting incident in Mallow town last Thursday evening has highlighted the need for a CCTV system monitoring the town linked to the local garda station.
That’s the view of local Labour county councillor James Kennedy, who said he believed it would be a vital tool in helping to combat all types of anti-social behaviour in the town.
As far back as 2009, The Corkman reported that a community based CCTV system, consisting of ten cameras placed at strategic locations around the town, had been installed at a cost of €170,000.
Images from the cameras were fed into a recording system based in the former town hall and could only be surveyed after an incident or crime had occurred
In 2003 it was announced that, following repeated calls by the former Mallow Town Council’s Joint Policing Committee, work was to commence on linking the system directly to the local garda station allowing for ‘real time’ monitoring of the live feed.
The then town manager, Tom Stritch, confirmed that a contract for the linking of the system had been awarded to a security company.
However, Cllr Kennedy said that “for some reason” the initiative stalled and was “left to die a slow death”, with the cameras not in use for a number of years.
The Corkman contacted Cork County Council and in a statement the authority said they were seeking Governmental guidance on certain issues relating to the use of public CCTV camera systems.
“Cork County Council can confirm there are a range of legal, GDPR and operational issues that need to be resolved through national guidance and direction prior to any consideration of the further roll-out of CCTV,” read the statement.
“The Council is awaiting guidance regarding same,” it concluded.
Cllr Kennedy insisted it was now time to “cut through all the red tape” surrounding the issue of CCTV, adding that having the Mallow cameras lying idle was “a colossal waste of money.”
“If ever a situation spelled out how important it is to have a CCTV monitoring anti-social behaviour in the town surely last Thursday evenings incident was it. Not only would it be able to assist gardaí in their investigation into the incident, it would also send out a very clear message to criminals that when they are in Mallow they are being watched,” said Cllr Kennedy.
“While I understand there are privacy and operational matters that need to addressed, one would have thought that would have ironed out at this stage. I believe the vast majority of people would be quite happy to see CCTV up and running in Mallow as it would give them a great sense of security,” he added.
Cllr Kennedy said the system could also be used in other ways, for example catching people fly-tipping and monitoring traffic and parking in the town.
“I think we really we need cut through all of the red tape and have cameras in place monitoring all of the key locations in the town,” he said.