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Boris: live CCTV on buses to stop thugs
Pippa Crerar, Political Correspondent18.12.07
Live screening of CCTV on London's buses should be brought in to help police improve security on the transport network, Boris Johnson says.
In his first spending pledge of the campaign, the Tory Mayoral candidate said he would bring in a six-month trial of the high-tech system on the worst 20 bus routes in the capital should he be elected.
Police and bus companies would be able to see in real time what was happening on the top deck of buses, helping them to clamp down on anti-social behaviour.
Under the £150,000 pilot scheme, police officers responding to "code red" calls for assistance would be able to tap into CCTV on their way to the incident via handheld devices.
Mr Johnson said: "This issue is of crucial importance to people's lives in London and they deserve to travel around our great city in comfort and safety. It is unacceptable that there is a culture of fear and intimidation on some of our bus routes and I'm determined to do something about it. That's why my first spending pledge in this campaign will centre on this important issue".
The technology - designed by Integrated Security Solutions and pioneered by the American military - would allow CCTV footage to be beamed live from all buses to a control room or mobile devices.
Transport for London had set aside the money for a six-month trial but it was shelved last month amid concerns the £20 million cost of installing the system across the capital's bus network would be too expensive. However, the Tory candidate claimed it could be unrolled on the most dangerous routes for just £3,000 per bus - a fraction of the cost transport firms spend on fighting graffiti and crime on the buses every year.
The Met Police is understood to be behind the scheme, which passed its trial run by TfL with flying colours.
It came after official figures showed that attacks on London bus passengers were becoming increasingly common, despite an overall drop in crime on the network.
The number of attacks on bus passengers rose from 4,029 last year to 4,167 - a 3.4 per cent rise - and now accounts for a quarter of all crime on London's buses.
Reader views (13)
The idea of using a 'mesh' network to beam CCTV pictures to and from moving vehicles is certainly not new, but with rapid improvements in technology and reductions in cost, the potential for using these systems, not just in the context of public transport but in a greater scheme of things, will undoubtedly happen whether BJ promotes the concept or not.
If the schemes are deployed on a carefully planned 'multi agency' basis, then there could indeed be many benefits for us Londoners, but if as seems more likely based on past experience, the deployment of this technology is fractured and commissioned piecemeal, then efficiency and cost considerations could quickly become a serious issue, which could so easily be avoided with careful consideration.
- Jon, London
BJ is full of hot air and is just saying what he thinks people want to hear, he has no idea how to put it in practice or where the money will come from.
- Kim, London
We all have an opportunity to vote for Boris as Mayor of London or vote for Ken as Nightmayor of London.
- Adam, Harrow, UK
Good idea. There are too many social misfits travelling for free and causing havoc on these public buses.
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London
Good plan. I like Boris and he has my vote. I think we need a new Mayor with fresh ideas and he fits the bill. I just hope fellow Londoners make this choice and he gets in because I'm not sure that I could bear another term of rabid Ken.
- Lisa, London
Get real! These thugs simply don't care. We have plenty of CCTV and that doesn't stop them. Wasn't there a case recently of kids attacking someone then actually posing for the camera on a train? More visible policing is the only answer.
- Philip, London, England
Gosh! Very recently Boris the menace was intending to outlaw buses, in the unlikely event of being elected mayor. Would someone please have a quiet word with the menace and refer him to the fate of 'Dobbo', who from his Camden Town Hall financed mansion overlooking the British Museum, was also going to slay 'Red Ken', the people's champion.
- Mary, London
Boris I like you, but can we pleeeease stop this infatuation with CCTV? How about putting conductors back on buses instead? That would give people more confidence, reduce fare dodging and they can see everything a CCTV camera can with the added advantage that they are actually there to do something about it rather than 10miles away behind a screen. PREVENTION- a word not often used these days.
- Mark, London, UK
What's very maddening about this situation is that many of these yobs are allowed free travel, either because Ken gives them travel passes or they just walk on the buses pretending that they are teenagers. Would help if drivers insisted on seeing passes rather than allow so many people on without checking - then maybe there would be less of these yobs on the buses if they actually had to pay to be there.
- Mm, Hackney
It's not so much the fear of attack, as just the persistent yob behaviour that needs addressing. Why can't drivers just be told to stop until yobs either behave or leave the bus?
- R Tucker, Barnes
Does he have any idea how much it would cost to have live CCTV on every bus in London? How many pairs of eyes will have to watch each screen from the control centre? Of course he doesn't, he just thinks this is what Londoners want to hear. How wrong he is.
You know the police type state which him and his party is always accusing Labour of advocating - does anyone see any difference with his Orwellian idea?
- Kim, London
Three questions: 1. How much is it going to cost to pay the hundreds of police that will be needed to watch the cameras in every single one of the thousands of buses in London, 24 hours a day? 2. How many kids intent on causing trouble are really going to care about the cameras, when the current CCTV is no deterrent? 3. How many times in his life has posh Boris Johnson actually had to catch a bus anyway?
- Charlie, Soho
This should be put on all buses and backed up by stiff jail sentences in order to have a more meaningful deterrent instead of the flimsy pathetic punishments that are handed out at the moment.
- Vivek, London
