CUTTING-EDGE CCTV has been installed in Swindon catch criminals.

Two new cameras in Fleet Street use broadband technology and will be monitored by staff at the Brunel shopping centre who are in constant touch with the police via radio.

The camera system is one of the most flexible of its kind and can be moved around the town to different trouble hotspots.

The new developments follow an Adver poll, which showed readers support the police using cameras.

Town centre development manager Oliver O'Dell said the system would target persistent offenders, opportunist criminals and alcohol-related nuisance.

Mr O'Dell said: "We have made use of the lessons learned in other locations and created a highly proactive camera system that will deliver tangible results. While we are keen to reduce the fear of crime and to provide a deterrent for opportunists, this system will initially concentrate on producing the evidence to prosecute habitual and persistent offenders that target the town."

The cameras are funded by the Swindon Crime Reduction Initiative Partnership, a group of shops and pubs which work with the police and council to tackle crime.

Town centre community beat officer Andy Alexander welcomed the new equipment.

"It's part of the whole set-up to make this part of town a safer place," he said.

"We had a weakness at the bottom of town in terms of CCTV and SCRIP has got together to cover this gap.

"The reason behind it is crime prevention, because people will know they are there and also for the detection of offences 24 hours a day."

After the Adver revealed police now have access to the council's 158 CCTV cameras 79 per cent of readers said they said they thought it would protect people.