Police to take on responsibility for monitoring Chichester CCTV

Chichester District Council’s service comprises of 63 cameras, 25 on-street and 38 in its car parks.

There has been a monitoring centre in Chichester since the implementation of the service all the way back in 1996.

But the area is only one of two in Sussex to have their own monitoring centre with Brighton & Hove being the other.

Last week the council’s cabinet agreed to transfer the service to Sussex Police when the current contract expires at the end of March 2021.

According to an officers’ report: “During 2019 and 2020 Sussex Police upgraded their monitoring system for CCTV across Sussex and they now have the capability to monitor all cameras in the district including those in CDC car parks. Unlike the current hours of operation Sussex Police have the ability to monitor CCTV across Sussex 24 hours seven days a week.”

The changes will result in savings in the region of £50,000 to the council as the police does not charge to monitor the cameras.

Officers described how response times and viewing capability would be ‘as good or better in some respects’ when compared to the current contract.