Wallingford CCTV cameras help tackle anti-social behaviour

Dan Beauchamp’s comments came after a report showed the town's surveillance cameras had led to more arrests than similar tech in nearby towns.

The 13 cameras installed around Wallingford helped police arrest 18 people between April 1 and September 30 last year.

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It is more than the number of arrests brought about by CCTV in Henley, Thame and Didcot put together – just 17 – in the same timeframe.

Footage from one of the CCTV cameras in St Martin's Street in Wallingford (Image: SODC)

That is according to the newly published report by South Oxfordshire District Council in partnership with Thames Valley Police.

Responding to the figures, Mayor Beauchamp, who was sworn in over the summer, said: “It looks positive and hopefully it will go on.

“The anti-social behaviour comes in waves. It comes and goes but the more resources we have to tackle it the better.”

The promising figures come just six months after police reported a spike in reports of anti-social behaviour in Wallingford.

Anti-social behaviour refers to an incident reported to police where no criminal offence has been committed.

In the summer, there were reports of youths jumping into the River Thames from boats moored on the bank.

And last month, the Wallingford Library manager reported several incidents which had left staff "intimidated and scared".

It was hoped a £30,000 upgrade to the town’s CCTV cameras in July would help tackle the issues.

According to the new report, 73 incidents were monitored by the town’s cameras in the six-month period last year.

That included 10 missing person incidents, nine incidents of fighting and affray, and seven fear for welfare incidents.

Two case studies from Wallingford were included in the report to show how CCTV was being used effectively.

Dan Beauchamp was sworn in as Mayor of Wallingford in May (Image: Ed Nix)

The report said: “Whilst on duty one night, our operator observed a large disorder break out in the town.

“They monitored the fighting whilst relaying descriptions of the main offenders to the police and continued to track the offenders as police arrived on scene.

“Four arrests were made.”

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Describing another incident, the report said: “An operator on shift observed an individual acting suspiciously and approaching vulnerable people, purporting to be from a charity.

“The operator was concerned as this is a technique known to be used by individuals to defraud primarily older people.

“They made the police control aware, and officers were dispatched. Upon hearing the sirens, the individual ran off and left the area.

“A search was completed, and intelligence was submitted.”

The 73 incidents monitored by CCTV is lower than in the same six month period in 2022 and 2021 – both 93.

The report said a vacancy in the district council’s CCTV team in 2023 had impacted the "team's availability to monitor the cameras”.