Thames Valley Police is appealing for witnesses after a man was seriously assaulted in Newbury Market Place.

The incident happened on Wednesday evening (15th November), at around 10.25pm, a 27-year-old man and two of his friends were outside Strada, Market Place, when they were approached by three men, one of whom knocked the man to the ground, causing facial injuries which required hospital treatment.

Detectives believe the incident was unprovoked and are looking for a white man, in his late twenties, tall, with short blonde hair. He was wearing a white top and spoke with a local accent. He was accompanied by another white man, in his late twenties or early thirties, who was wearing a dark coat and blue jeans, and carrying a bottle of wine.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any other information which may assist police with their investigation is asked to contact PC Elizabeth Saunders via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 101. If you don’t want to speak to police or give your name, please call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

I wonder if this would have happened had the taxis been there!



*Joke* Sorry, I couldn't resist!  

When B***y M****e was beaten up in the Market Place the cameras tracked his assailant all the way down to the Broadway where he was arrested.

Let's hope that's what's happened here. Oh no, Windsor wasn't monitoring at that time. Blast.

Still, not to worry, it'll all be on camera. Ah, not all the cameras are working. Damn.

Nevermind, they'll have it on disc and using the zoom function they'll see who the assailant was. Oh no,  the zoom gives rotten quality pictures compared to the old analogue cameras. Rats.

Still, I expect there was a group of cabbies standing around who might act as witnesses, or maybe one of them actually took the assailants to their home and can give the address.. Job done. Ah....what's that? no cabs? Knickers. We'll have to ask the public.

How much did the CCTV move cost? and we're still virtually blind.

Quoted from Greenham Common

I wonder if this would have happened had the taxis been there!



*Joke* Sorry, I couldn't resist!  

Might not have stopped it, but would have provided witnesses!!

I thought we've got this high res CCTV network for that, coupled with the Pubwatch thing!

Quoted from Greenham Common

I thought we've got this high res CCTV network for that, coupled with the Pubwatch thing!

So, do we have CCTV in the Market place or not. ?

There are what look like digital cameras in the Market.

However, believe it or not, Windsor have their own screens to monitor at that time of night and not all of ours are actively monitored all the time.

Recordings of incidents are now clearer due to not having to re-record over old tapes. But, as we know, if you try and zoom in on a digital rather than an optical system you lose definition. (it becomes pixelated). Plus, night time images are still a bit manky. (That's if the camera is even pointed the right way).

The WBC party line is "don't tell no-one nuffin' otherwise there may be trouble if the bad guys get to know what's going on".

Ffs,  how much worse could it get? In less than a week we've had three stabbings and a violent assault........so a big thank-you to WBC for doing their bit to make our streets safer.


Threep.

Quoted from Threepwood

There are what look like digital cameras in the Market.

However, believe it or not, Windsor have their own screens to monitor at that time of night and not all of ours are actively monitored all the time.

Recordings of incidents are now clearer due to not having to re-record over old tapes. But, as we know, if you try and zoom in on a digital rather than an optical system you lose definition. (it becomes pixelated). Plus, night time images are still a bit manky. (That's if the camera is even pointed the right way).

The WBC party line is "don't tell no-one nuffin' otherwise there may be trouble if the bad guys get to know what's going on".

Ffs,  how much worse could it get? In less than a week we've had three stabbings and a violent assault........so a big thank-you to WBC for doing their bit to make our streets safer.


Threep.

Cue idiot23 and a defense of WBC

Quoted from Threepwood

But, as we know, if you try and zoom in on a digital rather than an optical system you lose definition. (it becomes pixelated). Plus, night time images are still a bit manky. (That's if the camera is even pointed the right way).

Pixelation only happens with digital zooming - which isn't really zooming at all, its just looking at a small portion of the same picture.  However, any decent camera system would have a zoom lens for the operator to use to zoom in to an incident (admittedly not much use for evidential purposes after the event).  Presumably the cameras are pretty low res (ie not as good as a modern mobile phone) in the first place, making digital 'zooming' a pretty pointless exercise.

The whole move to Windsor wasn't really to do with quality of service at all, it was about the cost of the service.  The Newbury control centre may have needed a bit of updating (some new tapes might have been an idea) but its real problem was running costs. It is no surprise to me to learn that the level of service we are getting is considerably lower than that supplied from the Nebwury centre - after all we are paying a lot less for it.

I suppose we could just be reassured that big brother is actually watching us less ...

Pretty much swings and roundabouts.

Less of the Big Brother stuff is probably a good thing. Unless of course, it's you getting stabbed.


Threep.

It was claimed, which I have little doubt is true, that the service could be migrated with out a drop in service level.  Initial suggestions are, that they have actually wasted more money moving, when they could have saved money by switching it off.  We seem to be getting the same results regardless.

Meanwhile, the same old people, mates, etc, will keep voting in these Tories and Lib Dems every few years.

Quoted from Threepwood

Pretty much swings and roundabouts.

Less of the Big Brother stuff is probably a good thing. Unless of course, it's you getting stabbed.


Threep.

It beggars belief that WBC are paying for a system that would appear to be about as much use as a chocolate fire guard?
That is not saving money, if true, it is actually paying for something for nothing.
Why not be honest and say they were scrapping the sytem alltogether.

Still; just about what we have come to expect in Newbury.  

Regardless of quality considerations, if you go from a system using 120 cameras to one only using 40 there just has to be a diminution in service. Only WBC would try and convince us otherwise.

Where it becomes dangerous is when WBC start to believe their own propaganda.


Threep.

Worse when they lie to the constituents, or are incompetent to understand the issues.

Quoted from Threepwood

Regardless of quality considerations, if you go from a system using 120 cameras to one only using 40 there just has to be a diminution in service. Only WBC would try and convince us otherwise.

Where it becomes dangerous is when WBC start to believe their own propaganda.


Threep.

Let's keep it in perspective. It's a triumph of spin over substance.

There are 14 violent crimes every week in West Berkshire.
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/performance-pdfs-west-berkshire.pdf

Reported crime is down 13% in our area (-17% for violent crime).

The police have only issued 3 violence related witness appeals during the same period - so there's a 99% chance that these crimes do not get reported in the media.

I don't understand the love affair with surveillance cameras. Time and again they're shown to be useless, but people still swallow the propaganda. They've done a bit of work on this in London, but TVP don't hold stats for how CCTV is used to solve crime (FOI request denied anyway).

Maybe this helps.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....t-Police-admits.html