printer friendly version

Drugs and overpopulation curbed by fingerprint access

Hillbrow - notorious as one of the country's worst crime areas in terms of drugs, prostitution and slum conditions - could soon undergo a dramatic metamorphosis. "We anticipate that within five years Hillbrow could be transformed into a safe, clean neighbourhood, all as a result of the implementation of South African security technology," says the managing director of DEX Security Solutions, Ernest Cockroft.

DEX, the company responsible for access control during the Cricket World Cup Tournament in South Africa last year, has now been asked to stabilise the chaos and crime in Hillbrow by means of access control.

Various companies are acquiring dilapidated and overcrowded buildings in Hillbrow. Those buildings are then repaired, after which the new tenants and residents manage the premises with state-of-the-art security technology. Unwanted elements are automatically refused entry in the process.

DEX supplies biometrical fingerprint scanners as well as the operational management system for special spiral gate access control. This ensures that only lawful tenants, whose fingerprints correspond with the system, will have access to the buildings.

The scanners and management systems are designed and manufactured locally. Two-dimensional bar coded cards were used during the Cricket World Cup, and this is the same system that controls the access.

By being able to identify tenants positively, overcrowding and subletting are eliminated. Under the previous access control system, up to 20 people often lived in a single bachelor flat.

"The biggest asset of this control system is that it can be managed from a central point. Fraud and bribery can also be minimalised, because the system accurately identifies every person who leaves or enters the building at any given moment. Problems will therefore eliminate themselves in a technological way," Cockroft says.

DEX has been active in South Africa for many years in the field of IT solutions for insurance and financial services as well as advanced security and access control. DEX also has a foreign branch, which renders security services in South America from its office in Brazil.

Share this article:

Further reading: