Following Monday’s publication by The Daily Herald of photos showing cameras mounted on lampposts at Belvedere, the Police Force on Wednesday afternoon offered an explanation (see related story). It said they had come to an agreement with the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI and utilities provider GEBE to install Community Safety Streetlights that include digital surveillance cameras.
The pilot will allow the police’s Camera Surveillance Centre to monitor and operate these cameras in real time. This should help quickly identify and resolve any unlawful activities.
It regards a collaboration with the government-owned water and energy company as part of the first stage in the expansion of the existing Camera Observation Project that authorities say has proven to be very successful. Taking privacy laws into consideration, all captured images will be managed and stored only at the centre under direct responsibility of the Police Chief.
While residents of the neighbourhood in question generally seem to applaud the added security, probably most of them would have liked to know about it beforehand. Video surveillance in public areas has become the norm worldwide and concern that “Big Brother” is watching is generally taking a backseat to the need for enhanced protection of life and property against crime.
Mind you, the practice does require at least informing citizens they are being electronically observed. The latter can be achieved with warning signs on location, but also via local media.
However, it’s always best to do so up front rather than after the fact.
