Prime Minister John Howard today promised to fund the installation of 50 closed circuit television cameras in his Sydney electorate of Bennelong to help fight crime.

The location of the cameras in the suburb of Ryde will be decided by police and the council. The total cost of the cameras will be $675,000.

Campaigning in Ryde this morning, Mr Howard also promised to contribute $2.4 million for a local family and children's community centre.

Mr Howard said the CCTV cameras were a product of rising concern about suburban crime.

He said that only two weeks ago a 17-year-old boy was stabbed just after the Granny Smith Festival, which the Prime Minister attended, and recently a woman was found shot in a laneway near the hotel where he made today's announcement.

Mr Howard said that crime fighting was "overwhelmingly a state responsibility [but] there are gaps, there are areas of need that are not being met by state funding".

Arjun Ramachandran reports: Gladesville local area command's crime manager,  Detective Inspector Ian McNabb, said the crime rate in Ryde was at "the lower end of the scale in the state''.

"When you look at us out of 80 local area commands, [our ranking] in most crime categories would be in the high 60s or low 70s,'' he said, with the range being 1-80, with 80 being the lowest crime rate.

However, local business were concerned about malicious damage and graffiti in the area, he said.

Detective Inspector Ian McNabb welcomed the proposed installation of CCTV cameras.

"I think it's a great initiative and we welcome it for sure,'' he said.

"CCTV really does reduce crime, and it makes detection a lot quicker.

"It's not the be all and end all but its a useful tool for us.''