Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – What is the purpose of closed-circuit television cameras in Carnoustie High Street? Are they there to monitor streets for incidents? Do they actually perform that role and more importantly do they function 24 hours a day?
During the day, the cameras change direction every minute, but does this continue through the night?
The reason I ask is my window had a boulder thrown through it at 3.59am and the alarm immediately activated. Naturally, I expected the two cameras in the High Street on either side of the window to show a person/persons in the vicinity in the minutes prior to, or after, that time.
When I rang Tayside Police asking what the CCTV had shown, I was told the crime report stated the CCTV was negative. That was all the information I was given … end of case.
What concerns me as a shopkeeper and a ratepayer is, are the cameras worth the cost of having them if they cannot shed light on crimes?
Assuming the cameras were roving, someone must be on camera within 50 yards or closer to my shop so why not let me see the footage? I could have perhaps identified a person(s) and the police could then make enquiries. There are not too many citizens walking in Carnoustie High Street at 4am.
This is the second window I have had broken in 10 months and the cost of repair is £2500.
Given councillors are working hard to attract entrepreneurs to open premises in the town, this unattractive event and lack of perpetrators being caught is not an ideal advertisement.
David McNicoll.Carnoustie Golf Shop,122 High Street,Carnoustie.
Lunatics in charge…
Sir, – Escaped prisoner Lee Cyrus is causing mayhem, with police on foot, in cars and even helicopters and rubber boats searching for him and related evidence. What an astronomical expense and waste of police time, all because some do-gooding wallies decided it was safe to send him to an open prison.
In the past, he has been given sentences such as 14 months and six years for serious crimes and, of the six years, he apparently served only two. Then, in spite of a life sentence for offences including an attack on an old lady, he was placed in an open prison. So many prisoners abscond from these establishments that it makes nonsense of the concept.
Laws, courts and prison services must be tightened up. Open prisons should be abolished. Offenders should spend all their sentences in closed prisons with any time off earned by good behaviour. What was wrong with the old system of rehabilitation and training for a trade and profession within closed prison walls, then release on licence to a half-way hostel under supervision, before final release?
The do-gooders and politically correct have taken over our society so completely now that the oft-heard saying “The lunatics have taken over the asylum” has never been more true.
God help us all.
George K McMillan.5 Mount Tabor Avenue,Perth.
What reasons, exactly?
Sir, – David Kidd’s letter, in which he asks for the opinion of a civil engineer on the moving inland of the proposed V&A, is indeed timely. Here are a few ”What if?” questions.
Given that quite recently what looked like a small drill platform was to be seen in the Tay at the site of the V&A, what if the seabed surveys had not been fully carried out before the current design, projecting into the Tay, was chosen?
What if, subsequent to the decision to give the V&A to Dundee and the design was chosen, core samples taken from a drill platform have shown that the seabed is just not suitable to take the weight of the V&A?
What if those who should have ensured a proper surveying job was done, before considering a design projecting into the Tay, are unwilling to admit they made an error of judgment?
The answer in all cases would be … say nothing and move the project back on to land for ”economic” reasons.
Just a thought.
(Captain) Ian F. McRae.17 Broomwell Gardens,Monikie.
Bins might be illegally parked
Sir, – Among all the other problems Fife Council has encountered with their new bin uplift system, may I raise another problem that they have not researched.
Joe FitzPatrick MSP has presented a bill to the Scottish Government which, if passed, would create the offence of obstructing the pavement. Mr FitzPatrick raised the bill following approaches by the RNIB, mothers with pushchairs and users of mobility scooters.
If successful, this bill would mean that Fife Council would be creating an offence.
The only way that I can see that they may be able to overcome this problem is to resort to the previous system which minimised the time that the bins were obstructing the pavements rather than for a period of 15 hours a day.
Allan Murray.44 Napier Road,Glenrothes.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL. Letters should be accompanied by an address and a daytime telephone number.