Mahua Chatterjee reports on how Big Brother is helping to tackle antisocial behaviour on an estate in Tyne & Wear
Life on troubled inner-city estates can be summed up in one word: threatening. Out-of-control youths who get their kicks from bullying tenants, graffiti and other types of antisocial behaviour are common in areas that have suffered from years of neglect.

One of the government's answers to this problem is to spend £170m on closed-circuit television systems. Home Office research published in August this year found CCTV has little effect on crime, but expert consensus is still that, if installed in the right places, CCTV can work. Indeed, on one housing estate in Sunderland, it is doing just that.

The Pennywell Estate on the western edge of the city, is home to some 13,500 people living in 3500 properties. For years, the area was notorious for violence and antisocial behaviour. Car theft, vandalism, burglaries, verbal abuse and intimidation were daily occurrences.

"Life was appalling," says Barry Frost, security services manager for Sunderland council. "You would get boy racers who had stolen the cars they were joyriding in and there was heavy evidence of drug dealing, thefts and burglaries."

Three years ago, the council's housing department decided enough was enough, and that action had to be taken.

It teamed up with the local police to form a safer estate taskforce. One police sergeant and 12 police constables were drafted in from the local force to work with a taskforce manager and four tenancy enforcement officers.

Together, they decided that installing CCTV cameras around the estate could be one possible answer to its problems.

Deterrent
Pennywell's shopping precinct was already monitored by cameras and the taskforce believed that fitting cameras near the "hot spots" of crime on the estate itself would deter criminals there. But Frost says: "This wasn't just about catching criminals.

"The process was driven by the housing department, but there was a lot of consultation with community groups on whether to fit cameras and how they would benefit people's lives. The major issues that they expressed centred around their fear of crime, the lack of policing and the lack of support that was available from other agencies like probation services and social services."

Putting in CCTV made it easier for the police and external agencies such as social and probation services to work with offenders, to find out why they committed their crimes and, hopefully, to help rehabilitate them.

Location, location, location
The decision to fit the cameras was just the start of a long process. Having secured the support of Pennywell residents, Sunderland housing officers had to approach the planning department with a proposal for where the cameras would be fitted.

CCTV is a visual sign that things are being done and a stepping stone to addressing the bigger crime issues

Ian Bailes, taskforce manager

This was a minefield in itself. Obviously, it is important to cover as many potential trouble spots as possible, but councils have to consult closely with tenants about the proposed locations of the cameras or they may find themselves infringing on people's privacy by inadvertently filming them in their homes – against the law, under the 1998 Data Protection and Human Rights Act.

However, this was easier said than done when dealing with an estate of more than 3000 homes. Frost says: "There was one gentleman who was concerned he would be caught on camera because the angle of it was covering one of his rooms. We had to put what's known as a 'black spot' on the camera, so it won't pick up anything other than what's happening outside on the estate."

It took four months to get approval from the planning and environment departments and to get final planning permission for the scheme. The council secured £450,000 from single regeneration budget for the project and in 2000, nine cameras were fitted to the Pennywell Estate.

Last year, registered social landlord Sunderland Housing Group took over the estate, but the council remains involved, giving crime prevention advice.

All the cameras are monitored from a control centre in the town's civic centre.

The £220,000 centre was paid for out of the council's existing budget. As soon as the first signs of trouble are spotted on screen, the police can be contacted straight away to nip crime in the bud.

Falling crime
The success of the scheme shows in the latest crime figures for the estate. Every type of criminal activity – apart from assault – has fallen in frequency (see "Pennies well spent", above). And even though there were 15 more arrests for assault in 2001 than in 1999, the council argues that this is because of tighter police monitoring of suspected assaults and a greater number of people reporting attacks.

But have the criminal activities of the youths merely been displaced to other parts of the city? No, says Ian Bailes, a former council housing officer who is now full-time manager of the Pennywell CCTV taskforce. He argues that CCTV is actually reducing crime by complementing the other things being done to improve the estate, such as a new youth group and the closer working relationship between different agencies.

The cameras provide a way of getting below the surface of the crime that takes place, says Bailes. He believes it has improved life on the estate in other ways, too: "CCTV was never installed as a quick fix to the estate's problems but it does raise people's confidence. "It's a visual sign to say things are being done to combat the immediate problem, and it's a stepping stone that can be used to address the bigger issues around crime and disorder."

Bailes says the cameras have been invaluable: "The cameras have been a huge success. We can catch the perpetrators of antisocial behaviour on film and go to their parents with proof that their child is involved in criminal activity.

Where the money comes from

Tackling crime in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Britain formed a key part of this year’s comprehensive spending review. The government has pledged to cut burglary and vehicle crime by 25% by 2005. Councils and housing associations can apply for government funding to install CCTV if they are part of a local crime and disorder reduction partnership. These must involve local businesses and communities as well as housing officials. The partnerships play a key role in helping to decide how CCTV can be used most effectively. As part of the process, bidders are required to set realistic and achievable crime reduction targets that demonstrate the impact of CCTV as part of a wider crime strategy. The fund was set up in 1999 and set aside a total of £153m for crime and disorder partnerships over a three-year period. This summer, a further £170m was set aside for the installation of CCTV in high-crime areas.

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