Activists have won the battle to get CCTV installed on the most dangerous road in Oxford.Four wireless cameras are to be installed along Cowley Road for a trial period of a year, after much controversy and years of arguments.At present, there are no CCTV cameras along Cowley Road, meaning that activity on the streets can only be recorded through in-store devices. Earlier this term, Supt Brendan O'Dowda launched a campaign to get Oxford City Council to back the installation of cameras along the most crime-ridden street in the city. Over the past year, more than 760 crimes were reported along the street, but without video footage, it is difficult to prosecute those involved.He commented that in the same space of time there had been more than 700 arrests where CCTV was in operation.O'Dowda confronted concerns that CCTV will result in less policing of the area, saying: "This was only about making the Cowley Road safer. It was never about replacing police."So far, responses to the £48000 plans have been positive, with OUSU President Martin McCluskey saying: "It's going to be good for student safety and I think it's going to reassure a lot of people living in the earea."It's certainly going to reassure me that there is going to be a lot of monitoring and more police freed up in the wider area of East Oxford."
