Cape Town - Cape Town metro police have rolled out CCTV cameras in crime-ridden areas in earnest with Kraaifontein the latest to get them after Mitchells Plain, Ocean View and Lotus Park, close to Nyanga and Gugulethu.
Kraaifontein Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson Robert Bisset welcomed the roll-out of the CCTV cameras issued by the metro police strategic surveillance unit (SSU) to reduce public area crimes.
The metro police SSU has already started with the roll-out of a number of cameras to the value of R4.2 million installed at various points along Baden Powell Drive that will go live in due course.
The City said in the past three months about 7 339 crime incidents involving vandalism, motor vehicle accidents, fires and other miscellaneous incidents were caught on camera.
This is a 108% increase compared to the same period the previous year, where 3 524 incidents were detected.
“The SSU has grown its CCTV infrastructure to more than 1100 installations. The roll-out of cameras will continue during the financial year 2023/2024 in the five identified areas which require CCTV in order to reduce public area crimes. These areas are Mfuleni, Mitchells Plain, Delft, Nyanga and Kraaifontein,” the City said.
The locations for the installations were picked in consultation with the police. Local Neighbourhood Watch (NW) members will be monitoring the cameras for quick responses to detections by NW groups, police and City enforcement agencies, said the City.
Bisset said: “I am looking forward to the installation of CCTV cameras in my area, especially after we pleaded with the City. When you are in one of the top 10 crime areas you welcome any intervention that has the potential to fight crime.”
Safety and security Mayco member JP Smith said: “Apart from the growing camera network, our SSU has put in a lot of work to extract more value from it. 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.”