copinger4pcc.com will in due course be posting Middlesbrough Council video nasties showing once again how far
Barry “running man” Coppinger is out of touch with the realities of life caused by the wish of having “complete control of the masses”
Mbro “spoof” Labour Party aided by Ray “the mellon” Mallon would control peoples in Middlesbrough using fear and terrorist tactics, remember Mallon’s “be afraid, be very afraid” speech.
Remember, remember not only the 5th of November.
remember NOT to vote on the 15th November for Barry “ http://www.coppinger4pcc.com ” Coppinger the Middlesbrough figurehead for Ray and Mbro Spoof Labour Party.
It would be criminal to vote in criminals.
Remember during ALL the failures of Middlesbrough & Cleveland Barry “cop out” Coppinger was there. Our talking cameras are calm and polite, not shouting and bossy
Our pioneering CCTV scheme has made residents feel safer and kept our town tidier, says Barry Coppinger
• Barry Coppinger
• The Guardian, Wednesday 18 April 2007
Martin Wainwright Talking CCTV cameras accuse wrong person, April 12 read more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/apr/1 ... umanrights
and Charlie Brooker (CCTV cameras that shout at you? All very well, but I have a much scarier idea, April 9) read more http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... s.politics
both wrote about Middlesbrough's initiative, which I have day-to-day political responsibility for.
Sorry, Charlie, our CCTV cameras don't "shout at you". Nor, Martin, do they "boom" at people; nor are they "bossy". Our operators are professionally trained and communicate with the small proportion of the public who carelessly litter the town centre - or are engaging in other forms of antisocial behaviour - in a calm, polite and effective way.
Martin, Charlie and Guardian readers will be aware, of course, that there's no human right to commit crime or engage in antisocial behaviour. Public attitudes to CCTV have changed substantially over recent years. In my five years in this role we've had no complaints from residents or visitors regarding intrusion or infringement of privacy or civil liberties.
Charlie's "nightmarish" scenario of "faceless electronic scrutineers" may not hold quite as much sway if you've just happened to turn the corner into a drunken brawl, or a violent domestic dispute about to break out. (For the record, this is not seen by us as a substitute for proper neighbourhood or town-centre policing, both of which are alive and with us in Middlesbrough.)
Our simple idea has been trialled since the end of last year - nine town-centre cameras within our 150-strong network have loudspeakers attached. Three operators monitor them from a state-of-the-art control room. Most local people support the introduction of the system. Our last borough-wide survey indicated that 95% of residents felt safer. The response to the "littering" talking-CCTV interventions has been virtually 100% positive.
Martin refers to a misunderstanding when a resident put a McDonald's wrapper in the bottom of a pram and the CCTV operator "mistakenly thought she had dropped litter and boomed out a reprimand". I've written to the resident to apologise, if that is the case, although our local evening paper, who'd spoken to her, reported that she supported the talking CCTV idea. A German TV crew spent four days filming here before finding a resident who'd say they opposed it.
We estimate that 60-70% of challenges to town-centre antisocial behaviour made through this process are successful - the other incidents being swiftly referred through our online links to our partners in Cleveland police. The town centre now needs to be swept only four times a day instead of six.
None of this has gone unnoticed. The Home Office is now rolling out this initiative to 20 locations across the country. There's no reason why our success can't be repeated elsewhere - which presumably explains why our council's press office received 200 inquiries from across the world on the day it was announced. Used properly, CCTV can make an important contribution to making the streets of Middlesbrough safer for residents - and, of course, visiting journalists.
• Barry Coppinger is Middlesbrough council's executive member for community safety barry_coppinger@middlesbrough.gov.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... t.ukcrime1
