A BID-funded Citywatch employee has won a new award.

The award was sector expert based relating to the BID and also £125 in vouchers. The member also received an invitation to the annual awards dinner in Manchester in January. The award is given to 16 employees out of approximately 4750 people employed by Carlisle.

Citywatch BID officers provide much needed help and support to local businesses within the city. Their dedicated role provides business with an instant link to over 400 CCTV cameras which they can use to prevent and deter crime.

Not only is there CCTV coverage there is the ability to inform our dedicated BID police officers of know offenders who are currently active but also hotspot areas for crime and disorder. The knowledge of the Citywatch employees helps to identify criminals causing issues for businesses and their knowledge of areas in the city centre provide a quick and efficient response time to assist calls from businesses. 

In the past 12 months there has been a rise in crime detection rates prison sentences for known offenders and criminal behaviour orders issued the CCTV evidence which is provided by the Citywatch staff, this means convictions are paramount as the camera doesn’t lie without this most incidents would perhaps go undetected/NFA.

During the average Thursday, Friday and Saturday there can be anything up to 15 arrests linked to the BID radio! Over 90% will result in a conviction or intel submission because of the CCTV evidence against the offender.

In the control room there is a police officer 24 hours a day 7 days a week and they also have direct communication with the police force control room enabling them to live stream any incidents of crime or disorder. This highlights the multi-agency work the BID carry out and should it be necessary that a police patrol can dispatch officers on the ground and can be directed to an offender who can then be detained.