Imagine how elated a Victorian-era police officer must have felt when police began taking photographs of criminals in England in the 1840s. When those first magnesium powder flashes went off, as we have all seen in so many movies, there was finally a way to accurately record what a criminal looked like. Technology had begun its first foray into crime-fighting.
I feel this same sense of elation when I think of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the terrible crime problem that has become so interwoven with everyone’s opinion of South Africa.
We have all heard talk of crime ‘stabilising’ in South Africa. Perhaps it is not getting any worse, but is it getting any better? Crime has destroyed our reputation like that one reprobate relative who just will not go away. Any good development in South Africa is immediately juxtaposed with the crime problem, and rightly so.
However, as an engineer and a solutions-driven person, I have always been excited by the possibility of technology solving our crime problem. We all understand the root causes of crime, but tomorrow’s victims need immediate action today, while communities attend to the long view.
Technology has already made an enormous contribution to fighting crime in South Africa. From half-baked, poorly considered ideas like the infamous flame-throwing BMW of the early 1990s, to the very effective panic button now on so many mobile phones, South Africans wanting to do good have always tried to outsmart those wanting to do the very worst to us.
These efforts at using technology to secure ourselves and our property have most definitely been paying off. Joburg’s expanding CCTV system, for instance, has certainly deterred criminals within rollout areas and led to more effective prosecutions and faster emergency response times.
Other local towns and cities have followed Joburg’s CCTV lead, and now we have drones complementing the surveillance technology mix. The problem with technology like this is that it is 20% deterrence and 80% playing catch-up.
South Africans tend to use physical security barriers, as basic as locks and bars, to prevent crime, while reserving technology for apprehending criminals who have already offended. What is the point in rolling out your most advanced technology when people have already been hurt or worse, and property already stolen?
Enter the Internet of Things. Ask Google what the IoT is, and you will get something as vanilla as: “The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies that allow them to collect and exchange data over the Internet.”
For South Africans who want to stay here and build a better country for our kids, grandkids, friends, and others, the Internet of Things gets us really excited because it enables ‘edge processing’. It is edge processing that has the potential to deliver the hammer blow to crime and criminals.
Edge processing differs because it can reduce the temptation to commit a crime. For the first time, data interrogation can mostly occur on tiny, IoT-based sensors that can be fitted to virtually anything prone to theft. This could include anything from trucks to crates of tomatoes, and with a fair amount of telecoms infrastructure in between.
Instant, real-time analysis and reduced data transmission are now possible, which, in turn, means one knows a lot faster when a criminal is trying to steal something. Instant alerts are combined with complete event logs, meaning, for the first time, assets are not just traced; evidence is created to catch criminals and destroy their criminal enterprises.
Wireless, self-contained, plug-and-play sensors with a five-year battery life are today providing digital oversight across the length and breadth of South Africa and helping to beat the crime problem impacting every industry, including logistics, agriculture, mining and more.
In 2019, we started IOTI.MOBI with a mission to work towards helping to eliminate the theft of movable assets in South Africa. Our plan of action centred on these super-compact IoT-enabled smart sensors, which can be attached to assets in mere minutes and provide real-time information and GPS-linked insights to enhance efficiency, safety, and asset protection.
However, the positive impact of the Internet of Things on South Africa goes way beyond these little devices with big responsibilities.
Things have moved on so much from those first Victorian-era, new technology-enabled mugshots. I wonder what the average 1840s beat cop would have thought of ‘predictive policing’ enabled by IoT devices such as smart cameras, audio sensors, and wearables?
Interconnected surveillance networks that can monitor spaces in real time are being built using IoT technology to outfox the criminals who have been the bane of our existence.
Overseas, real-time data streams with live video footage and GPS location are helping first responders find the fastest route to an emergency, and the same is set to happen in South Africa.
Sensors in everything from traffic lights to CCTV cameras will soon enable the processing of historical and real-time data to pinpoint areas where crimes are more likely to occur. Now, those fairly useless ‘Crime Hotspot’ signs take on new meaning as the Internet of Things takes the fight to the criminals, in real-time.
In conclusion, it is easy to break any lock on any roller cage. Now, thanks to the Internet of Things, we can know when the lock is touched, and we have the digital evidence to nail the criminal.
Find out more at https://ioti.mobi/
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.
printer friendly version