CCTV in Oxford

CCTV is a significant tool in the fight against crime in Oxford. The impact of CCTV can help detect crime, as well as identifying missing persons and other public safety issues.

Who manages CCTV in Oxford?

Oxford has CCTV cameras managed by Oxford City Council and Thames Valley Police.

Oxford University also has an extensive CCTV system.

Where and how many cameras are there in Oxford?

The cameras in Oxford can be found in the following places:

42 in Oxford City Centre
26 around Park and Ride sites
2 at Rose Hill
1 at Wood Farm
2 at Barton

By early 2009 there will be a further 3 cameras on Cowley Road.

There is another CCTV scheme in progress that will see a further 18 cameras installed in three of the Council's tower blocks.

When all the schemes are in place a total of 94 cameras will be monitored by the team in the CCTV suite at the St Aldate's Police Station.

Oxford University has 99 cameras. They cover a large part of Oxford, in the areas where the City Centre CCTV system has little or no coverage.

Who monitors the CCTV cameras?

All images from the City Council cameras are fed back to a secure monitoring suite in St Aldate's Police station where they are recorded and monitored around the clock by a dedicated team of 7 staff. The staff are employed jointly by Oxford City Council and Thames Valley Police.

During 2008 the equipment in the monitoring suite has been upgrade from analogue to digital.

Oxford University cameras are controlled from a 24-hour control room in the University's Science area. The University CCTV system works in partnership with the City centre CCTV system and is linked by camera and Radio.

How successful has CCTV been?

From January 2008 - September 2008 the City Centre CCTV monitoring team have dealt with 2,949 incidents directly from CCTV cameras, 6,425 phone calls and a further 10,750 incidents from the shop watch radio scheme.

This has resulted in 1,261 arrests being made by Thames Valle Police. CCTV recorded footage has been used as evidence in 111 cases.

Who provides the CCTV cameras?

Oxford City Council provides the CCTV equipment for the city and is supported by their maintenance contractor, Quadrant, who are one of the largest CCTV companies in the UK and are members of the British Security Industry Association. The City Council is also supported by their retained consultants, Optimum who advise on equipment and development of the CCTV system.

Page last reviewed 11 Nov 2008