Met to sell crime footage

Met to sell crime footage

The Dome raid was caught on camera

The Metropolitan Police is to sell its catalogue of video footage, such as the Millennium Dome robbery, to make money to invest in community projects.

Car chases, thefts and other crimes caught by CCTV, police and helicopter car cameras, and even recordings taken from police on The Thames, are to be sold directly to production companies.

Marcus Kendrick, who is organising the sale for the Met, said "up to £1m a year" could be raised with footage being sold for about £2,000 for 30 seconds.

The force has always sold footage "to recover operational costs" but it now hopes to sell it for a profit which will be reinvested into projects such as Neighbourhood Watch and Operation Sapphire, which deals with sex crimes in London.

Big market

Anything that will be sold will have served its legal purpose and will be vetted to make sure they are not libellous and conform to other broadcasting regulations.

Mr Kendrick, speaking from the MIP TV - an international television programme makers festival in Cannes, France - told BBC London that he already has interest from production companies in 70 hours of Met Police footage.

"That's phenomenal amount," he said.

"We obviously want to make as much money for our community projects as possible.

"There is a big market for this, with a number programmes around concentrating on real crime footage.

"The Millennium Dome footage is a classic piece.

"It's of good quality and you get to see the police catch the bad guys."

The footage will remain free to news organisations.