The City of Cape Town (COCT) says its CCTV system is continuing to deliver good results after more than 15 000 incidents were detected in the last financial year. According to the COCT, during this time, the number of cameras also increased by 52, from 783 in 2019/20 to 835 in 2020/21.
Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith says there’s a huge emphasis on the role of CCTV cameras as it’s used as a tool to fight crime.
“It is important to highlight the other uses of this technology, like detecting fires, motor vehicle accidents and other incidents where lives or property are potentially at risk, and dispatching the correct resources to the exact location of the incident,” Smith said.
Smith goes on to say that as the COCT expanded their network, they have started seeing the benefit of CCTV surveillance in helping to address cable theft and other critical infrastructure.
“It offers a range of possibilities and greatly enhances the capabilities of enforcement agencies, our emergency and rescue personnel,” Smith adds.
Smith reiterated that the COCT’s officials also analyse trends and incidents because it’s very useful to their enforcement services as it can help determine deployment patterns and the number of resources to deploy.
These were the highest number of arrests made in the last financial year, courtesy of CCTV detection:
- 66 for drug-related offences
- 26 for theft
- 25 for cable theft
- 22 for theft out of motor vehicles
- 22 related to protest action/public violence
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