POLICE swooped on two suspected drug users after a sharp-eyed CCTV operator spotted them apparently injecting themselves in public.

Officers raced to Bootham Row car park in York after a civilian camera operator at Fulford Road police station saw the pair acting suspiciously.

A senior officer said they were arrested and a haul of cannabis with a street value of £300 was recovered from their car.

The successful operation is being held up as an example of how the city's CCTV network can help crime-fighters proactively tackle crime, from drug use to vandalism and violent offences.

The news comes several months after City of York Council pledged to overhaul all the city's cameras in a £300,000 deal that brought all 59 units under one blanket contract.

The decision came in the wake of an Evening Press investigation into the shoddy state of the city's CCTV network. We revealed how some feared the ten-year-old system was "effectively useless" as 23 of the busiest cameras were dogged by faults that stopped them working effectively.

York MP Hugh Bayley called on the authority to act "as a matter of urgency" and a street attack victim said he was shocked by the scale of the problem.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Raw, the new central area crime commander, said CCTV played a vital role in policing the city.

He said: "This proactive use of the CCTV cameras has allowed the police to arrest two people in respect of drug taking in a public place and has led to the recovery of an amount of drugs.

"The cameras are there for the reassurance of the public and also for the detection of crime, particularly serious crime.

"We give the operators information about crime hot spots, for example car parks that may be targeted by thieves at certain times, and this has proved very effective."

One of the men arrested was released without charge, but ordered to undertake a referral scheme to tackle his drug use.

The second man, suspected of possessing a controlled drug, has been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Updated: 11:54 Saturday, August 06, 2005