CCTV helping fight against crime

Fully operational, the new Garda CCTV system installed in Mullingar is giving the Gardaí locally an extra weapon in the fight against crime - as their success in halting the raid on the Mullingar Pharmacy last week showed.Forget Google Street level: the Gardaí have the ability to see not just still pictures of Mullingar's streets and alleys: but full colour, high resolution moving images.Sixteen cameras are now in place around the streets of the town, and all are sending a constant live feed back to a control room at Mullingar Garda Station.The cameras are capable of panning 360 degrees - and of zooming in to provide a high resolution image of subjects of interest to Gardaí. The high tech cameras can pick up not only the exact make and model of a car - but can be zoomed in to provide a close-up shot of the driver's face, even picking up detail of items carried in their hands, and what they're wearing.Everywhere from the cinema at Lakepoint to the Dog Track on the Lynn Road, as well as down Patrick Street, is covered. Last week, the Garda monitoring the system noticed a car driving the wrong way up the one-way street at Blackhall - and alerted other members of the force out on patrol.They arrived at the scene just after the car - containing four people - had reversed at speed through a door of the Mullingar Pharmacy.continued on page 4