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Let the cameras roll

The CCTV surveillance project in downtown Johannesburg is undoubtedly one of the most effective anti-crime initiatives undertaken by the city and as the control of crime increases, so Josi gets closer to once again being the business hub it was some years ago.

In the 1990s, crime on the streets of Johannesburg's Central Business District was out of control, causing many big businesses to flee the city centre.

Following the success of Business Against Crime's city centre surveillance project in Cape Town, Cueincident (formerly Business Against Crime Surveillance Technology unit) launched a similar operation in Johannesburg in March 2000. This heralded the start of the clean-up and management of downtown Johannesburg, backed by Mayor Amos Masondo who was keen to upgrade the city.

"There are 176 cameras being used for the surveillance of the streets of Johannesburg and since the project has been in operation crime in the area has dropped by about 80%," says Cueincident spokesman Neville Huxham. "Other active players in the project include First National Bank, Spoornet, the Central Johannesburg Partnerships, Johannesburg Development Agency and Blue IQ. It is a good example of a successful private/public partnership."

In the control room, operators work in teams of three, each team watching a 'bank' of 16 monitors. At any given time there are at least two members of the team at the monitors where one surveys all the monitors looking for suspicious behaviour, while the other actively controls a camera should an incident be spotted and zooms in on the action. As in the Pretoria set-up, the operators are trained in-house to be acutely aware of body language, and also selected on vigilance. The focus is on incident pre-emption and if an incident or potential incident is picked up, the police are alerted.

The control room also houses an active police station from which members of the South African Police Service and Metropolitan Police can view the footage from the cameras, communicate with officers on the ground and respond to incidents almost immediately.

The system is the only such solution in Africa to carry international ISO 9001 certification for design, implementation and operations management.

"The system is effective, it works well and a lot of arrests have been made which would not have been possible without the evidence available from the use of the cameras," says Huxham. "And having high-quality evidence on film speeds up the legal process because identification of the suspects in criminal activities is made so much easier."

Examples of typical 'street crime' incidents recorded by the system include smash-and-grabs, theft from ATMs and muggings. And although the cameras only operate on the streets and not inside buildings, they can provide evidence of which buildings the suspects entered. "One example of this was a case we had where two gunmen shot a man before fleeing into a building," says Huxham. "The operator monitored the victim remotely and called for an ambulance to assist him. He also saw which building the suspects had gone into and this helped the police in tracing and arresting them.

"The system is more than just a security solution, it can be used as a very effective facilities management solution as well.

"The drop in crime has had a huge impact on business in the heart of the city as companies realise that crime is under control and they are no longer scared to operate from downtown Johannesburg," Huxham concludes.

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