Costly closed-circuit television cameras in North Hamilton are doing little to combat incidents such as Monday night's drive-by shooting, according to locals.

Traders and residents in Court Street and surrounding areas told The Royal Gazette they believed the four cameras were not being monitored so were a waste of money.

One business owner, who asked not to be named, said: "There is a camera on (the corner of) Court and Angle Street. There was a lady robbed on Angle Street.

"When the Police came the interest was not in the camera and that's because the community knows it doesn't work."

He said a camera was supposed to have been installed on the corner of Angle Street and Princess Street — the latter being where 22-year-old Prince Barrington Edness was shot in the leg on Monday by a gunman on a motorcycle — but the wires were still just lying on the ground. "If we really wanted to stop the proliferation of drugs in our community from a policing aspect it really could be done," he said.

Another trader said a $3,000 generator was stolen from outside his Court Street variety store underneath one of the cameras but no one was caught.

"The cameras are on but nobody is monitoring them," he alleged. "If you know what time something happened you can go back and look. If you don't, that's it. This area is where everything happens, from the Spinning Wheel down to Till's Hill."

Another local businessman said: "Everybody still sells drugs, despite the cameras. I don't think the Police are doing anything."

Andre Bassett, chief administrative officer of the Uptown Market Association, which represents businesses in the area and organises the weekly Culture Fest event on Thursday evenings, said the cameras were having "some effect".

But he added: "I think there needs to be a bit more vigilance in the monitoring. We have spoken to the Police about the level of monitoring but not recently."

The CCTV cameras were installed in the area two years ago at a cost of almost $320,000 and were initially hailed as a success. Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler said last year that fewer people were "hanging out" in the Court Street and Middle Town areas because of the 24-hour surveillance.

But Pembroke South East MP Ashfield DeVent said yesterday that business owners, while wanting to see the scheme extended, had concerns about its effectiveness.

"Where they are installed, the question is are they working because the illegal activity that takes place around those cameras has never abated," said Mr. DeVent. "They haven't served any purpose to the people in the community."

Deputy Hamilton Mayor Courtland Boyle said the Corporation of Hamilton contributed financially toward the CCTV, along with Government and the private sector, and that the cameras were operated by Police.

Mr. Boyle declined to comment on Monday night's shooting.

But he said: "Any crime in the community is a concern and we'd like to continue to work with the Police. We'd always look for more CCTV."

This newspaper asked the Bermuda Police Service and the Ministry of Public Safety:

* How many CCTV cameras are installed in the Court Street/Middle Town area and their exact locations;

* Whether there is a camera near the scene of Monday's shooting on the corner of Princess Street and Elliott Street and if so whether the footage has been checked;

* If all the cameras in the Court Street/Middle Town area are working and if they are all being monitored by officers at Police headquarters;

* How often the footage is checked a day;

* If there are plans for any more cameras in that area.

A Police spokesman said the Ministry would have to answer. The Ministry did not provide a response before press time.