POLICE in Carmarthenshire are installing 46 CCTV cameras to target criminal activity.

Ten of them will be in Ammanford, with 19 of them in Llanelli and 17 in Carmarthen.

The move follows an analysis of crime patterns and a pledge by Dyfed-Powys Police crime commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn to reinvest in CCTV cameras across the force area.

All but one of the Carmarthenshire cameras will be at existing council-owned CCTV locations.

Three years ago the council decided to stop monitoring its 87 CCTV cameras to save money.

Since then the 87 cameras have not been monitored, but have recorded footage for the police to review if required. However, only 35 of them are currently working.

The council’s executive board has been discussing what to do now with its CCTV cameras which won’t be taken over by police, with one option to decommission them entirely.

Executive board members agreed instead to review these cameras, find out how much it would cost to maintain them or bring them back into service, and also to involve town and community councils in the process.

Councillor Cefin Campbell said some of the cameras were dated or not fit-for-purpose.

“Given enough money we would obviously pay for more CCTV cameras,” he said.  “In these days of austerity we have to make priorities.”

Cllr Campbell said the council should show faith in the police who, he said, knew where the crime hot-spots were.

Asked if the review could include groups such as homelessness charity Shelter, he said: “I think the only difficulty is when CCTV becomes an invasion of privacy.

“There is always a line between using them as deterrents, as sources of evidence for prosecution – but there is a thin line, and I think there may be a debate about using CCTV to look at people sleeping rough.

“Some might argue that that crossed the boundary.”

Dyfed-Powys Police are expected to install the new cameras in Carmarthenshire this month, with a total of 116 across the force’s patch.

The report before the executive board said: “(The council’s) Leisure services have indicated an interest in maintaining certain cameras at Llanelli Leisure Centre and Millennium Coastal Path, and parking services have indicated that they would want to maintain 3 cameras at the multi-storey car park in Llanelli.”