Anti-extremism campaign settles on the rooftop

London: When the cameras appeared above the rooftops in the Birmingham suburbs, some people realised they were mostly automatic number plate reading (ANPR) cameras, used to track drivers' movements.

Protesters sprayed the camera posts with messages such as ‘1984 Big Brother' and ‘You are now entering a police state'. Those suspicious enough to ask what the cameras were for were given the impression they were part of a Home Office initiative to tackle vehicle crime on the Stratford Road corridor, an arterial route into the city.

For the vast majority of people on the bustling streets of Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook, two of the city's predominantly Muslim areas, the cameras were inconspicuous, melting into pavements filled with fruit stalls and fabric shops.

But an investigation by the Guardian has established that the surveillance cameras are the first of a kind in the UK. While they may be used for ordinary crime fighting, they were put up to monitor extremists that the police and MI5 suspect to be living among the city's Muslim population.

The cameras appeared at 81 sites without consultation, after being requested by West Midlands police counter-terrorism unit more than two years ago. They include around 150 ANPR cameras, 40 of which have been classified as ‘covert', and are thought to be concealed in walls and trees by the side of the road.

Funds criterion

Birmingham city centre is covered by just 50 ANPR cameras. Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook have also been given an additional 60 standard CCTV cameras.

A total of £3 million (Dh16 million) to pay for the initiative, codenamed Project Champion, was channelled from the Terrorism and Allied Matters (Tam) fund, administered by the Association of Chief Police Officers. The criteria for Tam funds say a police force must prove that a project will "deter or prevent terrorism or help to prosecute those responsible".

When the system goes live in the coming weeks, every car journey in the area will be monitored, with data transferred to a database known as BOF2, located in a building in Stechford. Details of journeys will be stored for two years at the national ANPR data centre in Hendon, north London.

Closed doors

Project Champion has been developed behind closed doors for more than two years. It was not until April 2009 that some of the councillors in wards where the cameras would appear were briefed at a meeting at police headquarters.

Tanveer Choudhry, a Liberal Democrat councillor for the Springfield ward, said he received "misleading information" from a council employee.

He added: "I have had a lot of people who are very concerned. The community feels like it is being victimised. The message is, if you live in a predominantly Muslim area, you're a suspected terrorist."