by Richard Eldred, Daily Sceptic:
Over 300 cameras monitoring London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone were vandalised or stolen between April and August. The BBC has the story.
Over four months, the Metropolitan Police (Met) received 339 reports of camera cables being damaged, or cameras being stolen or obscured.
The actual number of cameras affected is likely to be even higher as one report can represent multiple cameras.
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Unofficial data mapping the location of disabled cameras suggests that almost 500 cameras could have been affected.
It also suggests that the vast majority have been in outer London where the zone is being expanded.
Some 1,900 cameras have been installed in outer London so far.
Despite so much damage being caused, one man has so far been charged by police. …
Commander Owain Richards said the Met had “a team of officers investigating and identifying those responsible” and was working with Transport for London (TfL) to “identify new ways to prevent further cameras from being damaged or stolen”.
The force has not revealed the locations of any of the disabled cameras but a group of people calling themselves Julie’s Ulez map, who are opposed to the Ulez expansion, worked to track the locations and damage caused to cameras.
The map shows there are 1,619 cameras outside the North and South circular roads, with 461 of those reported as vandalised or stolen – equating to 28% of TfL’s network cameras.
Kingsley Hamilton, who runs one of most popular anti-Ulez social media groups, told the BBC he could see why “if someone is in a desperate situation and has no way out” they may turn to vandalism.
“I don’t condone it but I won’t explicitly say you can’t do that. It would be wrong for me to say you’re a bad person for doing that (vandalising cameras),” he added.
TfL is planning to install a total of 2,750 cameras before the expansion comes into force at the end of August.
