VANDALS and troublemakers in St. George's had better watch out - hidden spy cameras are on the cards and plans are afoot to install them without publicity.

Town manager Lance Furbert said the issue of cameras had been high on the Corporation of St. George's agenda, although a final decision on whether to install them had not been made yet.

"If and when we do take that decision, there will not be any publicity," said Mr. Furbert yesterday. "Nobody will know the difference until the first time we catch somebody."

He added that the areas of town that the cameras would cover would not be disclosed either.

The Corporation has in mind state-of-the-art computerised spy cameras in undisclosed locations that could capture evidence to help send wrongdoers to court.

"We have not gone far with planning, but we are looking at computerised systems as opposed to VHS cameras," said Mr. Furbert.

The Old Town has been hit by two nights of vandalism within the last few days.

Last Friday, the townspeople woke up to find hundreds of their Christmas lights smashed up around King's Square. And on Sunday night, vandals spray-painted graffiti on numerous buildings in the heart of the town.

These incidents, coupled with a series of instances of vandalism and violence during the summer had inspired some defiance among residents, said Mr. Furbert.

"I think this has galvanised the community," said the town manager. "When we had the trouble back in the summer, people were saying that it was just a one-off and it would go away.

"But these latest incidents have caused people to rethink. Many people in the business community and residents are determined to do something.

"People are now of the mind-set that we are not going to allow our town to be taken over. People are talking widely about the problem and saying they are concerned. But more than that, we have actually had a number of people come to us - and I'm sure to the police as well - with information about these incidents."

Mr. Furbert had been told that on Sunday night, when the graffiti artists struck, only two police officers in a car had been covering the whole of the East End.

On Tuesday night, the St. George's Public Safety Committee met with Chief Inspector Michael DeSilva and the town's policing was discussed.

"It was a very fruitful meeting," said Mr. Furbert. "We got an understanding of what sort of problems the police face and residents found out how they could be more helpful to the police."

Mr. Furbert also praised Corporation staff who had gone beyond the call of duty to ensure the vandals' handiwork was snuffed out rapidly.

"The other side to the story is the reaction of the Corporation workers - these guys are heroes," said Mr. Furbert.

"There was vandalism on three separate occasions and these guys worked through their lunch hours and did some overtime at night to make sure that the town was put right fast."

Street cleaner Calvin Smith, who regularly starts work at 4.30 a.m. to ensure that the St. George's town square is cleaned up before most people have started their day, raised the alarm when he found the vandals' mess.

Mr. Furbert described works supervisor Shannon Outerbridge as "an incredible guy with an incredible team" and also singled out electrician Vaughan Stovell for special praise after his efforts to repair the wiring and replace smashed bulbs of the Christmas lights in double-quick time.

Assistant works supervisor Rodney Burchall had taken over responsibility for day-to-day Corporation jobs while others had been dealing with the vandalism.

And Sinclair Gibbons and Robert Fox had worked hard to remove the graffiti and pave the way for repainting.

"We have 14 people on the staff and every one of them was incredible," added Mr. Furbert.