Call to Place More CCTV Cameras on Courtney Place

Petition details

The busiest streets in the worlds coolest little Capital should be safe places for the public to enjoy however this is not the case for one of Wellingtons most popular streets, Courtney Place. In the past year in Wellington City alone there have been 1046 assaults according to the Victimisation Time and Place resource published by the New Zealand Police but we only have 5 surveillance cameras at the intersections of the hub of Wellingtons nightlife that have to swivel.

Submitted by Mirren Callaghan
mirreneatmuffin@gmail.com
Date declined 16 October 2020
Status Declined

Background information

In July 2019 my partner was assaulted walking down Courtney Place in a unprovoked attack. He sustained a thumb sprain, a head injury and a hip injury which required surgery and still prevents him from walking. When the Police looked into the case they found that the CCTV camera in that area was facing the wrong way at the time, capturing footage of his attacker running away and my partner on the ground. I know that his is not the only story like this one.

Signatures

Signatures: 1

What happened to this petition?

This petition was declined for the following reason:

Containing inaccurate statements.

In Te Aro, specifically along Manner/Dixon and Courtenay Place, we have 18 cameras, this is the highest concentration of cameras in any part of the city.

Of these, 6 are in Courtenay Place, 2 in Blair St, (one on Courtenay can also see into Blair) and 8 of these overlook Te Aro Park. Most of our cameras are PTZ (can zoom and swivel) and are set to automatically rotate providing as much coverage as possible (the programming of this rotation is site specific).

This means that not every single incident will be captured on camera but more of the area is captured than if fixed cameras had been installed.  We are currently scoping Tory St as a possible next camera for supporting safety at night time in the city. We also employ two full time staff to monitor cameras – providing almost around the clock live monitoring and contact with the Police.

The operators can (and do) manually override the automation and manage where and how we view an area.

This is the link to the map of were the cameras are placed across the city

https://wcc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Styler/index.html?appid=500e7a1fac434fe784eda87bac2c2e3a

and this is the more general link to the information about our Network

https://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/community-safety/safety-in-wellington/closed-circuit-television