A new network of CCTV cameras set to help curb crime
WITH the newly erected closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) cameras around the city, East London residents might feel a little safer once the cameras go live.
The cameras, put up at crime hotspots around East London, are similar to those visible at the East London Beachfront (Esplanade) which are not operational at the moment. In a GO! article last October (Beware this silly season) we wrote how the metro said that the beachfront cameras would be operation over last festive season to curb crime.
When asked if the cameras were ever in service, Buffalo City Metro (BCM) spokesperson Sibusiso Cindi said that it was but that they are not working due to maintenance being carried out and the connectivity to a new control room being finalised.
Speaking to the GO! this week, he said the maintenance is scheduled for November 11 2016, however there are sections that have already been completed.
“The cameras at the beachfront were functional but not being viewed as a result of the re-vamping of the CCTV control room,” Cindi said.
The CCTV cameras around the city are in the final stages of installation will be used for the detection of crime and crime prevention.
“The cameras will be viewed from a central control room once the connectivity is completed,” he said.
SAPS spokeswoman, Warrant Officer Hazel Mqala welcomed the new crime curbing mechanism, saying the cameras will assist in crime prevention and that they can’t wait for them to go live.
“We will be able to see who committed what crime and that is very helpful to the SAPS,” she said.
Last year, former BCM mayor, Alfred Mtsi said, the metro was to install 13 CCTV cameras in the CBD. City officials said it was a “priority”.
They promised that they will then look at ensuring cameras in the CBD, Leeches Bay, Duncan Village and Vincent are functional, to help in the fight against crime, which normally rises during the holiday period.
New cameras are now visible at traffic lights on the corners of Phoenix Road (known as Black Road) and Wild Rose and St John’s Road and Beaconsfield Road leading to the Parkside Bridge.
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