It was with great concern that I read in the local newspapers this month about a bloody hijacking ordeal in Cape Town.
Without going into much of the gory details, Martin Truter, 40, was shot dead when a gang of hijackers tried to blast their way into his vehicle. Truter was with his fiancée Alison Bell at the time.
For me, the most disturbing aspect of this incident is that the entire episode played itself out in front of surveillance cameras - the very same cameras that President Thabo Mbeki had switched on only hours before the hijacking. The report also says that the staff monitoring the cameras in the control room had misinterpreted the footage as a road accident.
Another newspaper report painted a grim picture for Durban's urban surveillance programme when it was revealed that on any given day only 60 of the 90 cameras worked and one out of 12 cameras on the beachfront worked. This is disturbing indeed especially when you consider that earlier this year, the city received the go-ahead for a R6,5 million upgrade to its surveillance project. Granted, Durban was the first city to install surveillance cameras way back in 1975 for traffic monitoring purposes, and that the funds allocated is not sufficient enough to bring the city up to date with the latest in surveillance technology, but the number of cameras not in operation is simply not acceptable.
Both of the instances above do not paint a rosy picture for the public's view of the need for urban surveillance. "The cameras are there but they are either not in operation or the people in the control room are not vigilant enough," or "Why do we need to waste money on cameras that have not helped reduce crime", might be some of the grievances from many quarters of the public. And they have every right to do so - after all we taxpayers also contribute to the urban surveillance programmes in our city.
Coming from a journalistic background, I would be one of the first to admit that the media will often report on the negatives and may play down the benefits of public surveillance. Over the past few years, I have witnessed first hand the Business Against Crime (BAC) initiative that has made the streets of central Johannesburg safer and restored business' confidence in the area. A visit to the hub of the project revealed that the BAC Johannesburg programme was indeed a wise investment and was certainly a factor in the decline in crime in that area. The control room also impressed me with its ergonomically correct layout and well trained staff monitoring the cameras.
Another place that has experienced the benefits of urban surveillance is the city of Cape Town - take a walk along the famous V&A Waterfront and one feels an extra sense of security thanks to the BAC initiative there. In fact, it was surveillance cameras in this city that had assisted in tracking a group of bombers back in August 2000 and helped put an end to urban terrorism in the Western Cape.
Yes, there are numerous advantages to implementing urban surveillance in South Africa and it is only a matter of time before the public realises the benefits. Of course, along with the roll-out of cameras in every corner of our concrete jungles will come the 'big brother' vs privacy debate as is the case in the UK. But that is another topic altogether.
The reality is that urban surveillance is a key factor in curbing the high incidences of crime, especially violent ones. But in order to speed up the process of installing cameras on our streets, we first need to win over public confidence. Inoperable cameras and inadequately trained staff will not do this.
It is time that we in the industry get our act together. Let us educate our end-users about going about the right way in gaining public confidence in urban surveillance. Let us work closely with them and assist with technical back-up and training for control room staff. It would certainly go to make the argument for the need for urban surveillance a much stronger one.
Focus on surveillance
Once again, it gives me great pleasure to announce ISEC 2003, the international conference on Implementing CCTV Best Practice, which will be held right here in South Africa on 15-16 October. This not to be missed event features Charlie Pierce (USA), Mike Tennent (UK) and our very own Dr Craig Donald - all experts in the field of surveillance. Seats to the conference are limited and booking is essential.
Till next month
Gerard Peter - Editor
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.
printer friendly version