Seven of Middlesbrough Council’s town-centre CCTV cameras now have a loudspeaker capability which allow operators to give advice or intervene in incidents as they happen.
‘If an operative sees someone dropping litter, they can tell them to pick it up, or if they see an incident starting to get out of hand, they can give advice to nip it in the bud,’ said executive member for community safety, Cllr Barry Coppinger.