Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Claim ‘abysmal’ CCTV footage is putting Fife public and police at risk

CCTV cameras are monitored round-the-clock from Police Scotland Fife headquarters in Glenrothes
CCTV cameras are monitored round-the-clock from Police Scotland Fife headquarters in Glenrothes

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.”


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The Courier newsletter


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.”