EVER get the feeling you are being watched?

Well, if you are in Crewe Town Centre then you could well be right.

In a control centre not to far away trained eyes look through almost 40 Close Circuit Television cameras in and around Crewe and Nantwich keeping checks on potential trouble-makers.

The CCTV control centre for the area is based in the Market Centre and is quite rare as it is a joint venture between the borough council, Crewe Police and the private sector.

The cameras have been in place since 1994 and six years on CCTV Controller, Brian Isom, feels there has been a marked improvement in and around Crewe and Nantwich.

"The obvious areas are car parks and the cameras were initially placed to tackle the escalating car crime," he said.

"This problem came right down to minimum levels after the cameras were introduced and we have also had a dramatic affect on the town centre."

Mr Isom added: "We stop people even considering doing anything stupid or violent so that means everybody else can have a good time and people can go out and can feel secure."

The CCTV system has recently been the recipient of a £20,000 grant from central government's CCTV initiative and this has helped with the placing of more cameras around the town.

A camera is soon to be in sited on Oak Street car park in Crewe and one has just come on-line outside the Earle of Crewe public house on Nantwich Road.

There are 37 cameras in total which are all linked to the control centre with 10 of them in Nantwich and 27 in Crewe, three of them are now on Nantwich Road.

The system also involves a radio link which provided willing shopkeepers with radios thus setting up a system of relaying information about suspicious behaviour.

"When someone uses the radio link to inform the centre of someone acting suspiciously they do not just tell us but also tell everyone around the town centre on the link," explained Brian.

There are around 25 premises in Crewe which are connected to the system with 10 in Nantwich and 10 in Nantwich Road.

"Although we do catch them we are not in the business of catching criminals, we are here to allow everyone to walk about in safety and feel secure," added Brian.

"It shows that we are not wasting police time but that we are in fact a valuable resource to the police."

The cameras can also be viewed at Crewe Police Station which helps to speed up response times to serious incidents.

Victoria Wilkes, is one of the CCTV operators, and has been in the job for just over a month but she says she enjoys her work: "I really look forward to getting out of bed in the morning "

"There is a lot of responsibility and you have to able to listen and communicate as people often give you a lot of information over the radio link," she added.

Operators also have to be careful not to infringe civil liberties and this often means cameras have to be deliberately pointed in the air when being moved from one view to another to avoid passing bedroom windows!

"It is positive for the town and it is good for the people who want to walk about and enjoy their shopping and night life without problems," Mr Isom said.

"It is also a good example of co-operation between the private sector, the council and the police which does not happen in other systems," he added.

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