New security cameras will help visitors feel safer on nights out

Published: 7 March 2024

New CCTV cameras are set to be installed in the city centre to help visitors feel safer, particularly on a night out.

The £135,000 funding for the cameras is being made to the Council by the Police and Crime Commissioner, through round 5 of the Home Office Safer Streets programme.

One of the aims of Safer Streets is to target violence against women and girls. In particular, it is intended to help women feel safer when out and about at night. Analysis carried out last summer showed a fifth of incidents reported from the city’s night-time economy are flagged as being against women. This covers a range of incidents, including violence with and without injury, criminal damage and public disorder. The cameras will also help to deter anti-social behaviour.

As well as providing five new CCTV cameras in the city centre and on surface car parks, and upgrading existing ones, the funding will help to improve enforcement and the ability to prosecute, by being able to recognise and respond quickly to incidents within the night-time economy.

Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, Cabinet Member for Communities and Streetpride, said:

The city centre’s vibrant clubs, bars and restaurants make for a great night out. We want our visitors to enjoy themselves and feel safe, and to support our businesses for the contribution they make to Derby’s economy.

More CCTV cameras will help to address two of the cornerstones of the Safer Streets programme, addressing violence against women and girls, and anti-social behaviour, and make our city centre feel a generally safer place to be.

We made a pledge to make our city centre a better place to live, work and socialise. I have established the City Centre Summit, bringing partners from the public, private, business and voluntary sectors together to tackle the issues that have blighted the city centre head-on. These include targeting anti-social behaviour, hot spot patrols, enforcement and rough sleeping. The Safer Streets programme will help us achieve our pledge.

Since 2020 Derby City Council has been awarded a total of £1.7 million from the Safer Streets Fund, to invest in initiatives which target neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls, and anti-social behaviour, improving the safety of public spaces for all. Members of the Council’s Cabinet will be asked to accept the funding from round 5 at their next meeting on Wednesday 13 March.

Crime, Public safety