THEY were supposed to help rid the streets of crime and make a Hampshire village safer.

However, after a catalogue of delays and technical glitches, police have branded Bishop's Waltham's year-old closed-circuit television cameras "useless".

Twelve months after they were installed at a cost of £60,000 to Winchester City Council taxpayers the cameras are producing blurred images which are not clear enough to be used as evidence in court.

Police are frustrated that the images they hoped would help them crack down on vandalism and antisocial behaviour by youngsters are not fit for the purpose.

Insp Shaun Moore, of Bishop's Waltham police, said: "I am not happy. It has taken ages for the cameras to go up and now they are running the images are absolutely rubbish. They wouldn't be of sufficient quality to use as evidence.

"There have been incidents over the past couple of months when the footage would have been useful but we couldn't see the images properly. It's ridiculous."

Winchester City Council has admitted that the images, which are transmitted from Bishop's Waltham to a control room in the city, are fuzzy but insists they are good enough.

A spokesman said: "We are looking at ways to improve this. However, images actually recorded in Bishop's Waltham are believed to be of sufficient quality to be used as evidence by police."

More than £10,000 damage was caused in a series of vandalism attacks across Bishop's Waltham over the Christmas and new year period.

Police are currently appealing for witnesses to six bin fires and vandalism to more than 20 cars since the beginning of January.

Last year, the Daily Echo reported that delays in the cameras going live also meant vandals were able to wreck the town's Jubilee Clock unchallenged.

The newly-installed CCTV equipment sat unused for months as technical problems were ironed out.

Meanwhile, residents have given up on the security cameras completely and are blaming the escalation in crime on a lack of police presence.

Paul Goodhew, 57, who suffered £500 damage to his car when vandals wreaked havoc in St Peter's Street over Christmas, has collected 1,000 signatures in a petition stating that the villagers need more protection.

He said: "I've given up on the cameras. We've been waiting for them to work for ages and now they are no use. We need higher police visibility in the village - there are not enough officers available to come out to incidents. It's crazy."

Fred Woodfine, 60, of Bank Street, whose car was also damaged, said: "You can never get hold of police when you need to."

Chief Insp Kerry Bedford, of Fareham police, said officers were tackling long-term issues in the village.

He said: "We cannot make it out to every call. We don't have the staff for that - that's a general policing issue. But we are tackling problems in the long term and are happy to talk to residents about their concerns."