New command centre opens in Birmingham

A new centre that aims to reduce crime on public transport has opened today.

It brings together West Midlands and British transport police to monitor all the CCTV cameras on the transport network.

It's this kind of anti-social behaviour on public transport that puts people off using it.

But now the CCTV cameras are all monitored in one place there's hope that more crime on public transport will be prevented and solved.

West Midlands and British transport police are working together in this new centre with the regional transport authority.

This joint venture has cost 1.2 million pounds but with savings of 400 thousand a year it's hoped it'll pay for itself over the next three or four years.

There are 50 screens on this wall behind me showing 800 cameras across the west midlands but by the end of the year they hope they'll be more than a thousand.

Those cameras used to be monitored in different location now they're in one room.

Crime on buses, trains and trams was down by nearly 700 offences last year.

There's hope that this will make public transport even safer.