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Surveillance system leads to decrease in crime in Pretoria suburb

Crime levels dropped considerably in Sunnyside, Pretoria, in December last year as a result of an innovative pilot project to install security surveillance cameras in the busy suburb which features numerous shopping malls and an active nightlife.

Launched by the City Improvement District, the project follows similar initiatives in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Managing Director of the initiative, Peter du Toit, approached four major suppliers to provide cameras, recording equipment and data management systems for evaluation. Thales Advanced Engineering, a Johannesburg-based company specialising in the design, manufacture and supply of digital CCTV systems, donated the use of its sophisticated Kronos system to the project.

Recently elected Mayor of Pretoria, Father Smangaliso Mkwatshwa, during a recent visit to the Sunnyside City Improvement District headquarters. Joining him in the pilot project’s control room were, from left to right, Peter du Toit, Managing Director of the project and Bennie Coetzer, a Director of Thales Advanced Engineering

The system features a digital recording and management system that incorporates both hardware and software that can eliminate the human element by incorporating a mechanised storage system. This allows specific incidents to be quickly and easily stored and located without any room for tampering - even by control room staff. It also means that all the problems normally associated with the changing and management of analog tapes can be removed.

The system can also be operated from various nodes ie the city's emergency services could easily patch in to the system after an incident such as a fire or explosion to review the tapes to find, and identify, suspicious-looking objects or people in the vicinity of the incident.

To be effective a city surveillance system needs to:

* Prevent and detect crime.

* Monitor the sale of stolen goods and vehicles and drug trafficking.

* Deter potential criminals.

* Maintain public order.

* Reduce vandalism.

* Enhance the perception of public safety.

* Identify and manage traffic problems.

According to du Toit, the pilot system has done this and he firmly believes it should be 'grown' to cover the rest of the city.

"By June we hope to have come up with a final proposal which would see a similar system implemented throughout the city in terms of a public/business partnership. Imagine the benefits to banks, insurance companies and the saving in terms of human life and property," says du Toit.

Similar projects have been successfully implemented overseas, Times Square in New York being the most successful to date.

For details contact Ivor Fairney, Thales Advanced Engineering on tel: (011) 465 431, fax: (011) 465 4315, e-mail: ivorf@thales.co.za

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