UPGRADES to help keep people safer in Rugby town centre are underway.
New CCTV cameras and lighting are due to be installed in the town centre thanks to new funding.
Rugby Borough Council, working with Warwickshire County Council’s Community Safety team, has already upgraded the CCTV system’s software and hardware, and is expanding the network of cameras.
The upgrades are being funded from an £820,000 Safer Streets grant which was awarded to Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for crime prevention projects across the county.
New cameras will be installed in Millenium Green alongside new lamp columns and solar footpath lighting.
Warwickshire’s Safer Streets projects – which include training police officers to identify people with hostile intentions, an awareness campaign to combat violence against women and girls, buying crime prevention equipment – were recently showcased to Home Office representatives by PCC Philip Seccombe.
Mr Seccombe said: “The Safer Streets funding has enabled us to bolster our efforts in tackling a number of problems that communities have told us impact on their feelings of safety in Rugby.
“I look forward to seeing the positive outcomes that will come from these CCTV upgrades and new lighting that we have already seen in other parts of the county.”
Coun Andy Crump, Chair of the Safer Warwickshire Partnership Board and Warwickshire County Council’s spokesperson for Community Safety, said the new lighting and CCTV cameras would act as a deterrent and provide valuable evidence.
He added: “This will ultimately make a real impact on the scourge of criminal activity including county lines drug trafficking, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls, which all impact our communities so negatively.
“I’m also pleased to see the positive outcomes from county-wide community safety campaigns and events on the reporting and prevention of crime by Warwickshire residents.”
