JUST one man monitors Bournemouth and Boscombe's entire CCTV camera system from 6pm until 6am, we can reveal.

And only 70 out of 148 "spy" cameras, set up during two decades to scour the streets for law-breakers, actually work.

Seafront cameras were switched off last autumn following a report that the once pioneering system was reaching the end of its life.

Long-term improvements worth more than £4 million are planned. But until then it is up to one man, based in the town hall control room, to scour 22 town centre cameras, 11 Boscombe cameras and 37 in Bournemouth's Richmond Gardens multi-storey car park, during the night.

Outraged Boscombe resident Nigel Gillespie, former chairman of the Boscombe Area Crime Prevention Panel, said: "It's no wonder that so much anti-social behaviour, graffiti and prostitution are missed by so-called security cameras.

"There's one outside my house in Palmerston Road and it hasn't moved for months. The council and police are always talking about making the streets safer, but nothing ever happens.

"Decent, law-abiding people in Boscombe are being attacked on the streets or waking up to find their homes covered in graffiti and none of it is ever captured on film.

"I've seen prostitutes actually standing underneath the cameras because they know there is no chance of them being caught.

"How can one man, working a 12-hour night shift, keep an eye on 70 cameras? It's an absolute joke."

Councillor Ron Whittaker said: "It's impossible for one man to operate 70 cameras. How can he be expected to switch from one to another. It is totally inadequate. What happens when he needs a break?

"I've been trying to find out what stage the CCTV improvement programme has reached but haven't had any satisfaction from council officers.

"Sorting out the failing CCTV system should be a top priority."

Writing in this month's Bournemouth Area Hospitality Association's First Resort magazine, Councillor David Smith said: "As one of the town centre councillors who is acutely aware of the problems associated with the night-time economy I have been pressing for a modern, updated and effective CCTV system."

A council spokesman said three men operate the CCTV system from 8am-6pm, seven days a week, with one man operating the system at night.

The spokesman added: "It was agreed last summer that as it was technically and financially impossible to sort the entire system out and bring it all up to scratch immediately a phased approach to this replacement work should be based on prioritisation of our CCTV cameras.

"This is based on crime and disorder 'hot spots' in the town and the locations of cameras which view these areas.

"It was agreed that seafront cameras should be switched off and resources focused on getting the town centre core system overhauled and modernised.

"Some of the finances which would have been spent on camera maintenance have been retained by seafront services to provide additional security patrols.

"We have not been aware of any consistent increase in problems along the seafront area since the October switch-off."

First published: February 7