Police cut off from city's CCTV footage by glitch

Police have been left unable to access CCTV camera feeds in Birmingham city centre.

Police have been left unable to access CCTV camera feeds in Birmingham city centre after a technical issue.

The problems have been caused by upgrade work which left the force unable to see camera footage of the majority of the city centre over the weekend.

Issues have continued into this week but Birmingham City Council, which runs the network, and West Midlands Police said they were working together to keep disruption to a minimum as "planned upgrades" took place.

No timescale was given for how long the problems would last.

Mike Olley fears the risk to the public has increased.

Mike Olley, chairman of the Westside Business Improvement District (BID), said the lack of access to feeds had effectively left businesses in the area “blind” and increased the risk to the public.

Issues with the CCTV system seem to have come to light on Friday and have continued since.

Mr Olley suggested around 90% of the council’s city centre cameras were not accessible by police over the weekend – including those on Broad Street.

He said: “It crippled us Friday and Saturday night, which I will remind everyone was a pay day weekend. The busiest weekend of the month.”

He added he had concerns about the timing of the CCTV outage, just a few days after a fatal stabbing in the city centre: “Of course it’s upped the risk to the public, it must have done. I can’t see why it wouldn’t.”

Technical issues left police unable to access footage of the majority of the city centre.

A joint statement from West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council said the CCTV hardware was still functioning and being monitored around the clock, but acknowledged problems with video transmission.

“These systems are currently being upgraded to improve the quality of the council’s CCTV network," it read.

The bodies added that the city’s CCTV network remained fully operational, with cameras "monitored 24/7 by experienced and professional CCTV operators".

They said they would ensure any planned disruption is kept to an "absolute minimum”.