Women have hit out at council bosses following claims it is too expensive to install CCTV cameras in a park that is a crime black spot.
In May, Riverside Park was hit by a serial flasher targeting lone women and girls - intensifying calls for Southampton City Council to put up the cameras for the safety of residents.
One obstacle previously discussed was that installation could disrupt protected bat species that roost in the park.
But city councillor John Savage said that the main hurdle was a lack of posts able to power such cameras - which would “incur significant costs” to install by the already debt-laden council.
Despite this, a solar camera was recently installed in the Woodmill Lane car park near Riverside for the purpose of catching fly-tippers, not potential sex offenders.
'No regard for women's safety'
Not investing in CCTV to protect women and girls is “unfathomable”, city resident Becky Hocknell said.
Reacting to the news, the 27-year-old said: "Considering the park is somewhere that is repeatedly the location of crimes, not just affecting women, but the whole community, I can't fathom how the council can put money before the safety of its residents.”
Meanwhile, JJ Flavius, a University of Southampton student, said the council’s reasoning was “peculiar”.
“I am tired of these things happening to us, then having to deal with the impact as organisations like the council don’t put in measures to stop these crimes from happening”, the 19-year-old said.
JJ, who is also the secretary of The Black Women’s Project Southampton, said the council and people in power have to do more to keep women safe.
READ MORE: Women demand action as investigation into serial flasher continues
She said: “A lot of the time there is not much regard for women’s safety.
“When I was last in Southampton for university, I went down to Riverside Park quite a lot with my friends as it is near our halls of residence.
“I felt safe those times. But I know one of the victims of the serial flasher was a 16-year-old girl, and if I was that age I would feel differently about my safety in the park.
“Whenever a woman or girl goes to a park, we think “I have got to be safe”, when alone or with friends.
“We should be able to walk in a park, it is ridiculous.”
Not enough poles for cameras
Regarding how bats could affect CCTV cameras being installed, Cllr Eamonn Keogh, cabinet member for environment, said: “Bats are present in all our parks and we have records of bat roosts across the city.
“However, all these locations have dark routes allowing the bats to access foraging habitat.”
Cllr Savage, cabinet member for green city, added: “The main obstacle in implementing comprehensive CCTV solution in the park is the limited availability of poles and posts for camera installation.
“The prospect of installing powered posts at various locations throughout the park to support traditional CCTV set-ups would be expected to incur significant costs, therefore, for the time being, the deployment of solar cameras will serve as practical measure to address safety needs in the park.”
He added: “It is evident that Riverside Park faces numerous challenges with the lack of suitable mounting options and power sources being the major concerns.”
Police statistics
This comes as statistics from Hampshire Constabulary revealed that in May 2024 - the month when the flasher struck - 1,094 crimes of a violent and/or sexual nature in Southampton were reported.
Of those reported, 184 suspects were unable to be prosecuted, while 74 were marked as complete with no suspect identified.
And two months on, 816 of the 1,094 remain under investigation.
On May 2, three of the reported incidents of indecent exposure occurred near Riverside Park -sparking police to ramp up patrols.
On May 15, a 33-year-old from West End was arrested on suspicion of six counts of indecent exposure.
He was released on conditional bail until August 15 for further enquiries to continue.
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