Police install armoured speed cameras with anti-climb spikes after 'blade runner' vandals cut down four

New specially armoured speed cameras have been put up after vandals hacked down the equipment in a series of vigilante attacks.

The new vandal proof technology at Longdowns, Cornwall, has the camera pole encased in a steel box and anti-climb spikes to deter those who wish to fell it with a disc cutter.

It comes after a spate of attacks by 'blade runner' thugs on the Jenoptik VECTOR-SR unit - dubbed the new 'ultra' speed camera - across Cornwall last year.

This week, police confirmed three people were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to speed cameras and were still under investigation, despite answering bail on Monday.

The arrests came after two cameras were cut down in the early hours of January 2 - one on Tregolls Road in Truro and another on the A39 at Perranworthal, which had already been cut down once before.

A speed camera in Longdowns, near Falmouth and Penryn on the A394 road to Helston, and on the A394 at Trewennack had also previously been hacked down.

A few weeks prior to those incidents, cameras on the A39 at Perranarworthal between Truro and Falmouth had also been damaged.

In January of this year, police released footage of a vandal ripping off a maintenance panel and slicing wires to one of the devices on the A390 at Drakewalls, Gunnislake.

A 62 and 32-year-old man from Porthleven and a 31-year-old from Falmouth were previously arrested on suspicion of causing damage to speed cameras in Truro and Perranarworthal in January 2024.

Despite the three now being released from bail, the police said that they all remain under investigation in relation to these incidents.

In a brief statement shared on Tuesday, a police spokesperson said: 'A 62-year-old man from Porthleven, a 32-year-old man from Porthleven and a 31-year-old man from Falmouth have all been released from police bail but all three remain under investigation in relation to these incidents.'

The VECTOR-SR unit is one of the most advanced of its type that is capable o recording more information than a standard camera.

The one in Longdowns caught hundreds of speeding drivers since it was first installed, some on multiple occasions on the same day, with many ending up in court.

The speed camera, which has the ability to monitor drivers in both directions, caught almost 700 speeding motorists in its first full week of operation when it was installed in February 2022.

Cornwall Council and Devon and Cornwall Police, both of which are members of the Vision Zero Road Safety Partnership, issued a joint statement at the time saying: 'We are really disappointed to see yet more mindless vandalism targeted at safety cameras in Cornwall.

'These devices were installed at the wishes of the community to improve road safety in areas which had previously experienced high speeds and several serious and fatal collisions.

'While these cameras are inactive, these communities no longer have the protection they were once afforded, which is really saddening.

'The cost of replacing these cameras is also a burden which has to be footed by the taxpayer, making these attacks all the more bizarre.' 

The attacks on speed cameras echo those on Ulez cameras and vans in protest.

Opponents to the Ulez - who call themselves 'Blade Runners' - slash the van's tyres, spray paint cameras and smash windows.