New digital CCTV cameras could be installed in Petersfield town centre to help combat crime and secure more convictions. The plans come after a serious assault case collapsed because the CCTV evidence from town centre cameras was of such poor quality. The new £12,000 scheme would upgrade the existing system with digitalised cameras, producing high-quality images that could be used as evidence in court. This week the plan was backed by the cash- strapped Petersfield Town Council, and members of its finance and general purposes committee agreed to find £2,000 urgently so that the project could go ahead quickly. Petersfield's antisocial behaviour working party, chaired by councillor Chris Jenner, was told in January by Petersfield police that if the current camera system in Rams Walk could be replaced with digitalised cameras, pictures would be of such good quality that they would be accepted as evidence in court cases. Members of the working party were told that the current quality of film was not acceptable in courts of law. Pc Alan Read told the meeting that pictures taken by the current system recently, of a serious assault on a young woman by three men, had been so poor that they were inadmissible and the case had to be discontinued. The finance and general purposes committee was told this week that the total cost of the replacement would be £12,000. The East Hampshire Community Safety Partnership would fund it to the tune of £6,000, the town council was asked for £2,000 and the rest would be provided by Prudential Portfolio and the police authority, councillors heard. The new system would have the capacity to run up to 16 cameras, the meeting was told. It would be linked to a control room in Winchester and would enable operators there to guide officers to scenes of trouble and follow suspects. The chairman of the finance and general purposes committee, Bob Ayer, said: "I fully support this. By upgrading they will get a much higher quality of evidence and they will be able to add more cameras to the system." Members agreed to give £2,000 to the project from money remaining from this year's grants budget. Petersfield town and district councillor and Community Safety Partnership member Hilary Ayer told The Herald this week that the scheme was an excellent example of the town pulling together to tackle crime. She said: "The plans to upgrade the system have involved East Hampshire District Council, the police, Petersfield Town Council, Neighbourhood Watch and the Prudential. "One of the problems that came up in a recent safety audit was the night-time economy in Petersfield was leading to trouble. This upgraded camera system would act as a deterrent and provide evidence if there was any trouble in the future." Mrs Ayer said another advantage of the upgrade was that it would be far easier to add additional cameras to the new wireless system. She added: "East Hampshire District Council are already looking for money to fund an extra camera to cover parts of the town square currently obscured from view." Petersfield town councillors have long been supporters of using closed-circuit television cameras in a bid to cut down crime in the town centre. After years of debate and often fierce criticism over the need for the system, town councillors finally decided to provide their own camera at the High Street end of Rams Walk in 2000, which took in an area from the war memorial across the Square, parts of Sheep Street and Swan Street. They agreed to rent the system on a five-year lease. Less than a day after unveiling the new camera, the then mayor, Chris Jenner, proved he was right to press for the system. Within 13 hours of the unveiling ceremony, nine Petersfield teenagers were caught on the new closed-circuit television camera, and were later charged with causing violent disorder. The cameras had recorded the scene when a mob of around 25 youths launched an attack on three young women and a man, which left all four young adults with minor injuries. Five 15-year-old girls and four boys aged between 15 and 17 were charged and appeared in Basingstoke Youth Court.
