SECURITY camera footage from banks and ATM machines is now being used in the fight against inner-city crime in Timaru.

They join the four cameras the Timaru District Council have installed since 2003. Monitors for the four council cameras are housed in the watchhouse at the Timaru police station, where they can be directed on to an incident by watchhouse staff.

Sergeant Geoff McCrostie of the Timaru police said while security cameras around the city-centre have helped to give police extra eyes in the area, they were not fully monitored and did not always catch incidents as they occurred outside of the cameras' recording angle.

One recent example was at 12.15am on Saturday when a Timaru youth was assaulted outside Noel Leeming. The attack, which left the victim in hospital, was not recorded on camera.

Mr McCrostie said police are now using footage from cameras in the city's ATM machines and from bank security cameras to give a wider scope to incidents that may not have been recorded on the security cameras monitored by police.

While the council cameras have only been in use since 2003, hundreds of unsuspecting members of the public have been caught on camera committing offences.

Violence, breaches of the liquor ban, wilful damage and the occasional `call of nature' on shops' doorsteps have all made it on to the watchhouse's monitors.

In the first three years of the inner-city being monitored via camera, between 200 and 300 offences were observed.