The system is also helping police detect offences in the area that previously might have gone unchecked.
The cameras were turned on in October last year to battle night-time disorder after four years of discussion and debate, when $200,000 of funding was raised by the Dunedin City Council and charitable trusts.
The council yesterday made public figures from the first four months of operation.
The council's Factline communication from the office of acting chief executive Athol Stephens said 12 people had made, or were to make, court appearances as a result of the police use of the cameras.
Since October, the system had identified 31 offences, including 15 assaults, and police had commented to council staff they used to arrive at the Octagon after a job was called in to find it was all over, but with faster alerts were now arriving while it was still in progress.
Senior Sergeant Craig Brown said that examples he was aware of included an offender lighting fireworks in the door of an Octagon bar.
Because police could be dispatched so quickly from their Great King St central station, the person was apprehended still lighting fireworks.
A man found unconscious in the Octagon had been found to have been assaulted, after footage from the cameras was checked.
In some cases, incidents that might not have come to police notice were coming to light.
"It is a good way of monitoring what's going on and detecting offences," Snr Sgt Brown said.
Council customer advocate Adrian Blair yesterday said that while the system was in its early days, the council was "very happy' with its progress.
The system of sworn volunteers who helped monitor the footage had also been successful, Mr Blair said.
