BARRHEAD residents caught a glimpse of the action as behind-the-scenes footage of police and fire officers was posted online 10 years ago.

Fire, police and council workers were trained to add video news items onto their own micro sites - as part of the planned development of East Renfrewshire’s Neighbourhood Watch website.

The public was able to view videos posted by Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, local police supervisors and council members - who took part in extensive training.

Chair of Neighbourhood Watch, Tom Taylor, said: “No other partner agencies in the country have the ability to tap into a community-based website and input their own material from their own point of view. It’s great and we know they’re going to utilise it really well.

“We’re going to expand it even further - we’ve already filmed the fire and rescue officers, and there are video downloads on the website.

“We’re now going to have behind-the-scenes footage of the officers in action - the first of its kind in the UK. No other website has that type of download - it’s unique to Barrhead and East Renfrewshire.

“Barrhead is leading the way with its full use of modern technology and communication mediums.”

He added: “The background to this is that we applied to the National Lottery for funding and got just short of £8,000. We created the website from scratch and part of that funding was to include training for the partner agencies - so that’s why we’re developing the website.”