City of Cape Town says CCTV reaps rewards when fighting crime

The City of Cape Town says installing CCTV across the metro are reaping rewards when it comes to detecting crime.

Between April and June 2023, the Metro Police StrategicSurveillance Unit (SSU) detected 7 339 incidents, including crime, vandalism, motor vehicle accidents, fires and other miscellaneous incidents.

According to the City, this was a 108% increase compared to the same period the previous year, when 3 524 incidents were detected.

PICTURE: Pixabay

Mayoral committee member for Safety & Security, JP Smith, said among the reasons for the increase are the installation of additional cameras in areas like Bishop Lavis, Delft, Nyanga, Mitchell’s Plain and Kraaifontein; and the introduction of satellite CCTV control rooms in Retreat, Ocean View and Grassy Park, with local Neighbourhood Watch (NW) members monitoring the cameras for quick responses to detections by NW groups, SAPS and City enforcement agencies.

‘’Apart from the growing camera network, our SSU has put in a lot of work to extract more value from its camera network. Thanks to improved information sharing with local police stations, our CCTV operators can do more effective monitoring in the right areas, and at the right times. We’ve also introduced refresher training for operators, and deployed experienced enforcement staff to the control rooms to help guide operators, and we have implemented improved work flows around the dispatching of units to an incident, using our integrated Emergency Policing Incident Command (EPIC) platform. As we fine-tune these processes in the coming months, it is expected that the arrest rate too will increase,’’ said JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.

‘The expansion of our CCTV network and investment in other technologies is but one aspect. The other, more critical aspect is ensuring that these tools are utilised effectively. So we are also working on expanding digital evidence gathering, storage and analytics into the future, and integrating systems and information not just across departments within the City, but external agencies too. The ideal would be to seamlessly share resources and information as we work towards a common goal of increased safety in our city,’’ he added.

 

Done By: Esona Mfazwe