‘Outdated’ CCTV systems

SCOTTISH Borders Council is set to push ahead with the replacement of outdated onstreet CCTV systems in seven towns.

Members of the full council were due to hear on Thursday (March 28), as this newspaper went to press, that the systems “are approaching a point of disrepair and will in any event become obsolete as of 2025”, due to the switch-off of analogue telecoms and the move to IP-only by Openreach.

A report from council chief executive David Robertson recommended that the local authority accepted the proposal of its strategic IT provider, CGI, on a “best value solution for CCTV and associated connectivity infrastructure” with investment of £2.7m over a 16-year period.

The council runs some 65 public space CCTV cameras in the towns of Peebles, Duns, Hawick, Galashiels, Kelso, Eyemouth and Melrose.

Police Scotland also has two mobile cameras, and a separate project is under way to bring more mobile cameras into service, councillors were set to be told.

The report described the current council CCTV system, managed by the street lighting team within the council’s environments and infrastructure department, as “inadequate for modern policing”.

Mr Robertson said: “Investing in a replacement CCTV system for the Scottish Borders ensures that the infrastructure is in place to deter, detect and prosecute crime.The current CCTV system is inadequate for modern policing, and the imminent obsolescence of the technology further reinforces the need for a modern system. Investment in replacement CCTV is a proactive safety measure which responds to the ask from our communities to improve safety and preservation of the public realm.”