Intelligent CCTV is being developed to spot crimes as they happen and alert the police.

Computer experts at the University of Brighton are leading a nationwide effort to teach cameras to understand what is happening on the street raise the alarm if they look suspicious.

If they are successful the cameras could alert police instantly if someone is recorded breaking into a building or behaving violently.

The technology could still be a decade away but researchers believe it could one day revolutionise policing.

Dr Anja Belz of the University of Brighton’s School of Computing Mathematical and Information Sciences is leading a network of 100 UK-based researchers and others in the US.

She said the labour-saving equipment could put an end to the hours officers spend trawling through computer images to find incidents.

She said: "Police have an ever-growing mountain of potential visual evidence which could help solve crime but in practise they do not perform the tedious job of sifting through footage for less than serious crimes.

"Only 3% of London's street robberies are currently being solved using security cameras.

"Researchers are developing software tools capable of sorting through CCTV footage automatically and locating sequences matching a given type of crime."

The network of scientists, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is being launched this month.

Chief Inspector Roger Fox, Sussex Police’s CCTV manager, said advances in technology are welcome but computers could not completely replace the expertise of human police officers in operating cameras.