Nia Griffith MP and Cllr Calum Higgins, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, have today presented a petition of over 500 signatures to the Dyfed Powys police commissioner Christopher Salmon. The petition asks the Police Commissioner to reconsider his decision to withdraw funding for the live monitoring of CCTV cameras in the towns of Llanelli, Ammanford, Burry Port and Carmarthen.
Nia Griffith MP said, “The Police Commissioner should not be putting people at risk by cutting the CCTV monitoring, while trying to portray himself as the great hero who is reducing the police portion of the council tax by 5% which amounts to a mere ten pence a week for a band D property, hardly enough to solve the cost of living crisis. Moreover by picking on the CCTV monitoring which is jointly funded by the police and the County Council, he is deliberately putting the council in an impossible position, knowing that they are in no position to pick up his share of the costs when they have their own very difficult budget decisions to make.”
Cllr Calum Higgins explained: “The Tories have their priorities wrong on policing. This week they have decided to close the helicopter base, which comes at the same time as cuts to CCTV monitoring and a pre-election tax giveaway of pennies a week from the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner. The Conservatives clearly have their priorities wrong and this just adds weight to the Labour Party commitment to abolish Police and Crime Commissioners and invest in the front line.”
Nia Griffith, MP for Llanelli
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