We, the undersigned, call on Warwickshire County Council and Warwick District Council to provide more CCTV cameras in St. Nicholas Park, Warwick.

In view of the increase in anti-social behaviour and crime in the park and the gravity of these incidents, we request further safeguarding for users of the park.  Incidents have included a school boy being knocked unconscious and his phone stolen, poaching of a swan and other wildlife, three 12 year-olds being threatened with a machete and having their bikes stolen, a known Paedophile being seen and another arrested after a sting operation, eight assaults in six months, including a 16 year-old having his jaw broken, another being punched in the stomach and having his head stamped on, a sexual assault and an invasion of the Leisure Centre by masked youths who assaulted a member of staff.  These incidents must be cause for significant alarm, especially in the face of increasing knife crime.  This evidence must justify the expenditure of a few thousand pounds for CCTV cameras to replace those removed by Warwick District Council.  The benefits of 24-hour CCTV coverage are well-rehearsed.  Cameras provide a constant visual deterrent for crime prevention that is immeasurable.  It has already been demonstrated that crime rates reduced where an extra camera was recently installed in a hot spot.  

We consider that measures taken by the Police’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team and Warwick District Council have proved inadequate in deterring criminal behaviour.  Both of these authorities state that the number of incidents does not warrant more cameras.  However, their incident statistics fall well short of a response from Warwickshire Police to a Freedom of Information request showing that there had been 65 incidents during the summer last year, including 8 assaults.  These figures have nearly trebled from the previous year’s FOI results.  

We particularly request more CCTV cameras to provide complete coverage for the route to school taken by children crossing the park to attend the four schools on each side of the river. 

We believe that all park users, especially school children, are at increasing risk of harm unless swift and effective action is taken to safeguard them.