A crash in the quality of footage from Fife’s CCTV cameras is putting the police and public in danger, it is claimed.
The network of more than 100 cameras watches 14 of the region’s town centres round-the-clock.
Over the last six months recordings of crimes and incidents have been “abysmal”, a police source said, resulting in crucial moments being missed.
Evidence to secure court convictions has been lost, he alleged, and camera operators have been unable to monitor police officers as they deal with potentially dangerous situations on the streets.
Funding of £390,000 was agreed in 2016 by Fife Council and Police Scotland for a maintenance programme to bring ageing equipment up-to-date.
A contract for Fife Public Space CCTV, run by Police Scotland staff, was awarded last year to Vodafone.
Since then, the source said, footage has become jerky, lags when cameras are turned and blurs when zooming in, making faces and number plates unclear.
He said: “It’s like watching a home movie from the early 80s.
“It’s frustrating because we are missing things. Cops and the public are being put in danger.
“There is going to come a time that something really big happens and we can’t capture it because the system is just not fit for purpose.”
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Civilian operators monitor cameras in towns including Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and St Andrews from a suite of screens at Police Scotland’s Fife headquarters in Glenrothes.
Police officers often ask them to train cameras on a particular spot or request reviews of footage but the source said some had stopped asking as they were repeatedly told the camera was down.
He said: “Teething problems are to be expected in any new system and Vodafone assured Police Scotland they were working flat out to solve them.
“However, now we are six months forward from this point and still have a system full of faults with the promised fixes yet to be seen.”
A Vodafone spokesperson said: “Vodafone is helping Fife Council and Police Scotland to modernise its CCTV system.
“This will help the police to continue to provide a great service to the public.
“A small number of cameras haven’t been performing as they should and we are working with Police Scotland and Fife Council to replace them as soon as possible.”
A police spokesperson said: “Police Scotland and Fife Council are working together with Vodafone to modernise the public space CCTV estate in Fife.
“The introduction of the new cameras has provided immediate improvement in a number of areas, however, we do recognise that there are still some operational and technical challenges to resolve.
“Together, we are working hard to resolve this as quickly as possible whilst keeping public and officer safety to the fore.”
