"CCTV is not the solution for crime in Shepherds Bush"

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Lib Dems defend instead more investment in public services, like the now closed Janet Adegoke Centre

The Conservatives are wrong to trumpet CCTV as the key to cut down on the crime in the Shepherd's Bush area, says H&F Liberal Democrat Jon Burden. "CCTV cameras along the streets of Shepherds Bush may help catch the odd criminal. The more likely outcome is that crime and anti-social behaviour will simply move to areas without CCTV".

Conservative Cllr Greg Hands, in conjunction with the Masbro Area Neighbourhood Watch and local activist Belinda Donovan, is renewing calls for CCTV to be installed on Shepherds Bush Road.

According to Burden, instead of CCTVs, the permanent solution is to invest in public services that prevent people turning, or re-turning, to crime: "The Liberal Democrats want government, both local and national, to take an  active role in preventing crime. The Tories seem only to want to encroach on our privacy for very little reduction in overall crime."

Burden added: "The police and youth workers know that young people hang-out on streets and engage in anti-social behaviour because they are bored. Labour's closure of the Janet Adegoke Centre shows they are completely unaware of this connection. Two-thirds of young offenders are re-convicted of a crime within two years of being released. Yet the Tories give rehabilitation services, education programmes and probation services scant attention and no promises for the resources necessary to make them effective."

October 17, 2004