£500 offer to catch camera vandals (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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£500 offer to catch camera vandals
3:55pm Thursday 11th September 2008 in
Road safety chiefs in Bradford are putting up a bounty to catch vandals who target speed cameras.
A £500 reward is being offered to people who provide information leading to the conviction of anyone caught damaging the familiar roadside cameras.
The Bradford-based West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, which is responsible for the installation and upkeep of the cameras, has announced the move.
“It’s not a big or growing issue in West Yorkshire and we aim to keep it that way,” said partnership spokesman Philip Gwynne.
He said: “What few attacks there are tend to be ineffectual drive-by arson attempts, which might cause some superficial scorching to the camera cabinet but do not affect the workings of the equipment inside, as the cameras have protective fire-proofing.”
But Mr Gwynne revealed that, occasionally, there were more serious attacks.
He said one camera head was cut down using an angle grinder and another was “torched”.
Chief Inspector Christopher Moorhouse-Everett, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “This is not ‘just a bit of vandalism’, this is the serious offence of causing criminal damage and it can have dangerous repercussions for the road and the community alongside it.
“And the cameras are always replaced, so it’s a completely futile act in the first place.”
People who live on roads near cameras often report suspicious behaviour to the police or the partnership. Police said this was an indication that many residents welcomed the traffic-calming influence the cameras bring to their neighbourhood.
Now the partnership has arranged with Crimestoppers to reward “good neighbours” for reporting an incident that leads to a conviction.
Anyone who sees someone attacking a camera is urged to call the police on 999 if the attack is happening there and then. Otherwise, people can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
If people can see the camera number, they should give it to the operator. Descriptions of the people involved would also be welcomed.
When the offenders are caught and brought before the courts, the person who reported the vandalism need not give evidence in person.
A written statement will be sufficient and the person’s identity need not be revealed.
Comments(23)
Rambo
says...
4:05pm Thu 11 Sep 08
Serious offence? This comes from the mouth of the Chief Inspector. You would have thought he had bigger fish to fry...
Anyway I could take him round Bradford any day of the week and point out a variety of crimes such as drug dealing and taking, drunkeness, and blatant disgregard for road laws.
I was nearly hit on the pavement yesterday by a gangsta wannabee who pulled a sharp U-turn and went the wrong way up a 1 way street to talk to his dodgy mate, also parked completley on the pavement.
Rambo
says...
4:05pm Thu 11 Sep 08
Serious offence? This comes from the mouth of the Chief Inspector. You would have thought he had bigger fish to fry...
Anyway I could take him round Bradford any day of the week and point out a variety of crimes such as drug dealing and taking, drunkeness, and blatant disgregard for road laws.
I was nearly hit on the pavement yesterday by a gangsta wannabee who pulled a sharp U-turn and went the wrong way up a 1 way street to talk to his dodgy mate, also parked completley on the pavement.
Chris B
says...
4:40pm Thu 11 Sep 08
I heard there go round smashing up Anything like windows cars and anything they like They video the acts with there moblie phones and show there mates.
With videos on moblie now people do these crimes now to just to video it and put it on the net so they can get there kicks.
It never happend in my day lol
joanne
says...
5:00pm Thu 11 Sep 08
oddshapedballs
says...
6:07pm Thu 11 Sep 08
Tollerboy
says...
8:40pm Thu 11 Sep 08
Mik_e
says...
9:18pm Thu 11 Sep 08
Drug dealers , burglars and other such types , are not sent to prison , so how come criminal damage is serious . Shows how out of touch the police and courts are . These cameras main purpose is to raise money !
Collos
says...
7:13am Fri 12 Sep 08
Rick
says...
8:57am Fri 12 Sep 08
Drivers pay no respect to the rules of the road as they are too busy enclosed in there tin boxes distracted by radios,mobile phones and kids screaming.
I admit if we lived in the perfect world where everyone followed the rules there would be no need for speed cameras but sadly we dont and they are here to stay.
The simple answer is that if everyone followed the speed limits you wont get caught then there would be no need for mindless acts like this.
Collos
says...
10:10am Fri 12 Sep 08
Could it be the police are more noticable,on the last three evenings travelling some 180 miles by bike I never saw one police officer of any description plenty of traffic violations though.
Duke of Odsal
says...
11:00am Fri 12 Sep 08
Vandalising someone elses property is a crime - vandalising safety equipment is an even more disgraceful crime!
Revenue streams from cameras go back into policing - which means that the taxpayer pays less per head, and the offender pays more per head. A Perfect arrangement in my book that means the perpretrator is effectively paying for the privelege of being caught!
My only problem with speed cameras is that they have to be visible - leading to the cynical lawbreaker speeding up and slowing down - but at least the new average speed devices stop that pathetic demonstration of disregard for the law.
albion
says...
11:08am Fri 12 Sep 08
Collos wrote:Thats a hell of a lot of pedalling!
Why is it that in counties that refuse to have speed cameras the accident rate is lower that those with.
Could it be the police are more noticable,on the last three evenings travelling some 180 miles by bike I never saw one police officer of any description plenty of traffic violations though.
Gumshoe
says...
11:16am Fri 12 Sep 08
If the Police spent more time trying to take action against unlawful acts instead of whinging about more money etc then things could be different. We see no Police at Queensbury or CSO's apart from when passing through at 100mph probably to arrest someone taking a library book back late!
Collos
says...
1:08pm Fri 12 Sep 08
Going back to cameras people slow down for them and then speed up if there were a large quantity of police cars you wouldn't take the risk at all if the money wasted on these thinks were put into proper safety measures like engineering safer roads then we would have a much safer enviroment.
Rick
says...
1:12pm Fri 12 Sep 08
I notice that we cannot comment on the article about uninsured drivers.
We cant go upseting anyone can we?
albion
says...
1:56pm Fri 12 Sep 08
Collos wrote:Very well done, i have done much the same through early morning workouts and regular daily walks.
Albion I do around 200 training miles a week and race at the weekends not bad for a 60 year old,its taken 6 years to go from an overweight,smoking near alcoholic to someone who has hopefully rediscovered my live.
Going back to cameras people slow down for them and then speed up if there were a large quantity of police cars you wouldn't take the risk at all if the money wasted on these thinks were put into proper safety measures like engineering safer roads then we would have a much safer enviroment.
Regarding the cameras, i would pretty much agree with your comments, but i cant agree with those who try to justify the vandalism.
Tollerboy
says...
9:44pm Fri 12 Sep 08
albion
says...
6:26am Sat 13 Sep 08
Tollerboy wrote:That, if it is or isnt true is not relevant.
Why are you so wet Albion?
brownie
says...
9:56am Sat 13 Sep 08
the council seem to bend over backwards to invest in bd3,what about the rest of bradford!
tyker
says...
1:47pm Sat 13 Sep 08
well tell me the last time you saw one see a fast car coming towards a person and that camera jump into action to lift that person from the road thereby saving a life!!
garbage: cameras do not save lives:they minimse the risk of lives being lost.
A person hit by a car at 40mph in a 40mph area will, in all probabilty die. Agreed he will die with less injuries than if hit at 60mph.
cameras are supposed to reduce speead in order to minimse loss of life and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, TO BE CAPABLE OF RAISING AS MUCH CASH AS POSSIBLE IN THE CHEAPEST WAY POSSIBLE
finemess
says...
11:24pm Sat 13 Sep 08
Duke of Odsal wrote:Revenue streams from cameras do not go back into policing, you are sadly out of touch!
So - all those people who think that the speed camera is an enemy of teh people are happy to see speeding unpunished as a crime? At least the camera is totally dispassionate - if you do the crime then you pay the penalty - seems fair enough to me. Or would we rather have coppers spending hours chasing after speeders rather than "going after real criminals" which is the other rubbish spouted out by those who think that traffic laws are there for others and not for them.
Vandalising someone elses property is a crime - vandalising safety equipment is an even more disgraceful crime!
Revenue streams from cameras go back into policing - which means that the taxpayer pays less per head, and the offender pays more per head. A Perfect arrangement in my book that means the perpretrator is effectively paying for the privelege of being caught!
My only problem with speed cameras is that they have to be visible - leading to the cynical lawbreaker speeding up and slowing down - but at least the new average speed devices stop that pathetic demonstration of disregard for the law.
tyker
says...
9:53am Sun 14 Sep 08
It is a well known fact that very little goes back and the rest goes into the general tax pot and administration. virtually nothing goes back into making roads safer.
Duke of Odsal
says...
9:47am Mon 15 Sep 08
I cannot and will not have one jot of sympathy for those who have a disregard for the law, and no doubt those who speed would have something to say if they were affected by someone who like them couldnt care less about rules.
Dont speed - dont get fined - its hardly rocket science!
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