CLOSED-CIRCUIT TV cameras are due to be installed in Belfast in a move to try to quell rowdy and troublesome students.
The surveillance equipment being erected in the Holylands area close to Queen’s University should be fully operational next month, according to Belfast City Hall.
Even though noise complaints have dropped dramatically since the introduction of street wardens last October, more than 170 incidents of anti-social behaviour have been reported in the past three months. There have been more than 200 noise complaints this year.
The streets have effectively fallen silent since hundreds of students returned home for the Christmas break. The CCTV is expected to be up and running shortly after the start of the new term – and well in advance of St Patrick’s Day, when levels of street disorder are at their highest.
The six cameras will also be used to combat crime in the Holylands’ 16 streets.
Queen’s, the University of Ulster, St Mary’s College and Belfast Metropolitan College have already warned of tough disciplinary action against students who step out of line.
South Belfast SDLP councillor Pat McCarthy, who campaigned for the installation of the equipment, said: “This is coming as a huge relief to the residents who are sick and tired of people getting away with anti-social behaviour. The system should also make it safer for young women, who have been the target of a number of attacks around the university.”
The introduction of a city-wide scheme where wardens provide communities with a visible presence to help deal with anti-social behaviour and reduce crime has already had an impact, but the cameras should make it easier for troublemakers to be identified.
Ray Farley, chairman of the Belfast Holyland Regeneration Association, said: “We are not pointing the finger at the students for causing all the trouble, but once people become aware of these cameras, then that should prove to be a big deterrent.”