A council cabinet member says the cameras are catching dozens more crime and antisocial incidents each month reports Luc Gauci Green

A full front view image of Hendon Town Hall — Hendon Town Hall

Barnet Labour has highlighted what it describes as a “CCTV revolution” in the borough compared to the “failure” of the previous Conservative administration.

Labour says that in the year to October 2025, 125 incidents of fly tipping, 29 antisocial behaviour incidents and two wanted people were caught using the council’s moveable CCTV cameras.

At a council meeting on 21^st October, councillors were told that the council now has 33 cameras that: “are not fixed and can be moved into temporary positions for days, weeks, or months at a time, meaning the council can react to issues in specific areas and monitor them.”

It has also introduced two CCTV patrol vehicles which have four cameras each with live feed monitored directly by the CCTV Control room.

Barnet Labour says this increases the flexibility of the CCTV coverage of the borough and supports the high visibility patrols and police partnership initiatives.

Barnet’s Labour’s cabinet member for community safety, Sara Conway, said: “The Conservatives failed to protect this borough properly, and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour effectively by leaving the CCTV system not working 70 per cent of the time, not monitored 24/7 and not reviewed or upgraded for many years.

“Barnet Labour will always be ambitious for residents’ safety, as shown by the significant impact of Barnet’s upgraded and expanded CCTV system as part of our proactive and comprehensive approach to improving community safety.”

However, in response, a spokesperson for Barnet Conservative group told Barnet Post that Barnet Labour’s three and a half years of “inaction” had compounded “the failure of the Mayor [of London] and Metropolitan Police on local crime” contributing to the “deterioration in the state of Barnet that residents now see every day.”

Despite CCTV improvements, the Conservatives say that crime and anti-social behaviour, in particular low-level drug dealing, are “an increasing concern for many residents and have been an ever-larger part of councillor ward work over recent years.”

They added: “Focussing on technology rather than dealing with the underlying problems which Barnet residents face every day is the mistake this administration compounds every day of its existence.”

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