Council / ‘Obsolete’ CCTV network to be dismantled
Council officers are working with police on a business case for a new up-to-date system
LERWICK’s much-heralded network of CCTV cameras are being taken down by the local authority as “it is no longer fit for purpose”.
The council’s director of development Neil Grant told a meeting of the development committee on Tuesday that that system had not been working for some time.
Installed in 2010 at a cost of £240,000 to Shetland Islands Council, the system has been regularly in the headlines with allegation that the network of 14 cameras around the town centre has not been working properly.
Police Scotland has been looking at upgrading the network with better equipment since at least 2017.
A council report, discussed in private in autumn of that year, described the CCTV network as “not fit for purpose”.
On Tuesday, it was described as “obsolete”.
“As the system is no longer fit for purpose, following discussions with Police Scotland during Q3, the cameras and associated equipment are being removed from the street and the removal of the equipment located in the Lerwick Police Station is being arranged,” a council report said.
Grant added that council officers were working with Police Scotland on a business case for a new up-to-date system, but he did not expect these discussions to result in a proposal before spring of next year.
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