24 Aug 2012

Police to take over CCTV monitoring in capital

10:15 am on 24 August 2012

Police will take over monitoring surveillance cameras in central Wellington after new figures showed a third of all the capital's crime takes place in the inner city.

Last year, 5753 offences were committed in the central city, including 2893 dishonesty crimes.

While that is 350 offences fewer than the previous year, police want to reduce the number further.

A new team of six officers is being set up solely to target inner-city crime and police will take over the monitoring of the council's network of CCTV cameras.

Wellington area commander Chris Scahill says more police will be on the streets, although no new jobs are being created.