Text messages tackle local crime in Surrey

A new mobile telephone messaging service is helping to tackle crime in a Surrey borough.

It allows residents and businesses in Spelthorne to text an incident seen in the vicinity of CCTV cameras directly to the control room based at Runnymede.

The CCTV operators can then view the incident on camera, record it and send pictures to the police.

Roberto Tambini, chief executive of the council, said the initiative would help make the borough a safer place.