The existing cameras in Forres, along with those in Elgin and Buckie, will be upgraded from analogue to digital recording equipment, while Keith and Lossiemouth will have cameras for the first time.

Moray Council's CCTV partnership have approved proposals for the new digital CCTV cameras which use mobile phone technology that can be accessed remotely by police officers using laptop computers and wireless connections.

Images from the digital cameras can also be enhanced for court proceedings.

The project is one of the most significant developments in this area of crime prevention recently, and comes after months of planning.

The new cameras will improve reliability, image quality, and enhance the use of CCTV imaging in court proceedings.

The project has been funded from the Quality of Life and Anti-Social Behaviour funds held by the Scottish Executive.

Over a two-year period the Quality of Life fund will provide £200,000, while the Anti-Social Behaviour fund will contribute £24,000 in the first year alone.

To aid policing of potential trouble hot spots, mobile units will augment the fixed cameras sited in Elgin, Buckie, Forres, Lossiemouth and Keith.

These will be secured to mounting brackets attached to buildings or poles in any of the towns, and employ mobile phone technology.

Operators will dial up the unit from their central control and monitoring room in Elgin, or police officers equipped with wireless-enabled laptops will be able to operate the cameras remotely from a patrol car.

Developed in conjunction with the Home Office, the technology has been encrypted to a high level to prevent hackers using the system unlawfully.

Planning permissions for some of these mountings will have to be obtained, and in some cases Historic Scotland will have to be consulted for approval.

It is expected that the first cameras will be installed in Lossiemouth by May, and in Keith by July.

The CCTV partnership comprises Moray Council, Grampian Police and community leaders.

Grampian Police liaison officer with Moray Council, Grant McCutcheon, said the new equipment was a considerable investment in community safety by Moray Council.

"Grampian Police are also actively pursuing community wellbeing and are very happy to be partners in this worthwhile project," he said.

"Over the years the CCTV network covering Elgin, Forres and Buckie has become an extremely important tool in preventing crime, detecting offenders and presenting evidence at court.

"We have an extremely capable and dedicated team of camera operators based at Elgin, and they use the existing equipment to its full potential.

"However, it is old technology which has been operating round-the-clock since it was first installed, and although it is still very useful it is beginning to show its age, and by today's standards its capabilities are limited.

"Anyone with a basic digital camera will know how easy it is to enhance, enlarge and manipulate images to improve picture clarity.

"When these enhancements are complete we will have a fully digital system with all of the technological advantages that it brings.

"The fact that the new cameras are portable and wireless means that we have very few constraints in where they can be situated, and we'll put them in any location in Moray where intelligence and analysis suggests they would be of benefit."

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