Thursday, March 29, 2012

Cathedral installs CCTV to stop lead thieves

The Roman Catholic cathedral in Norwich has installed hi-tech cameras in an attempt to stop lead thieves. 

The church has had more than £20,000 worth of lead stolen from the roof in the last year. 

Seven strategically placed cameras attached to the buildings will give hi-resolution pictures of anyone moving through the grounds.
“Over the last 12-14 months we have had three lead thefts with a total insurance claim of £18-20,000. Insurance companies will only go so far and so we needed to persuade them that we were being proactive about prevention.
That is why we had this system put in – in direct response to those thefts. If there was a further theft, this system will be able to identify the people involved.
Thefts from catholic churches have been a particular problem and in one case a tabernacle was stolen. It is getting more common, which is a sad state of affairs, but it is something we have to protect against and that is why we have installed this system."
– Estates manager the Rev Patrick Limacher