Residents say a £400,000 CCTV system will not help solve crime because offenders are simply avoiding the cameras' gaze.

The six units were installed on crime-hit North Moulsecoomb, Brighton, in December, with money provided by the Home Office, Brighton and Hove City Council and eb4u, the Government scheme to regenerate the area.

But people who live on the estate say criminals can easily see which direction the cameras are pointing and avoid being captured on film.

The system was installed three years after a set of cameras were put up on another crime-hit estate, Whitehawk.

Those have been praised for helping to reduce crime but some residents complained criminals were evading detection because they would wait until the camera was pointing in another direction before committing an offence.

So when the people of North Moulsecoomb were consulted about what cameras they wanted, they asked for them to be hidden inside smoke glass globes to prevent criminals from spotting which way the lens was pointing.

Hamish MacKenzie, of Newick Road, Moulsecoomb, was a member of the residents' sub-committee involved in the consultation. He believes the cameras are useless.

He said: "You can see where they are pointing because a lens sticks out the front of them. And you can see inside the globes."

Residents were also told at Christmas the cameras would only be used to solve serious crimes.

Police said they did not have the manpower to trawl through hours of footage to identify minor offenders unless an exact time of a crime was known.

The announcement was made after a Moulsecoomb resident complained to The Argus she had been the victim of a crime that could not be solved, despite the cameras being in operation just yards from her home.

The woman, of Ringmer Drive, Moulsecoomb, said thieves walked into her garden and stole festive garden lights. She called police but was told there were not enough officers to go through the footage.

Richard Hoare, CCTV manager for Sussex Police, said there were two types of CCTV cameras. The shoe box type is used in Whitehawk and central Brighton, and the more up-to-date domes are used in Moulsecoomb.

The dome cameras have a better range of vision and an improved ability to zoom in on any activity.

Mr Hoare said the cameras were supposed to be visible to the public.

He said: "They are a deterrent but not a total cure for crime. They are by no means the answer to reducing crime, that needs residents to report anything they witness. The cameras are a back-up to what a police officer can do."