The City of Cape Town‘s law enforcement has launched body-worn cameras and in-vehicle dash cameras with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology for its police officers.
These body and dash cams will be utilized by polofficers in perfect alignment with the city’s forward-looking policing style, which emphasizes evidence-based methods and a technology-centric approach.
Watch the video below on how these body cameras work:
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR): is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data.
The City of Cape Town says the rollout is the first of its kind in South Africa and is part of the City’s R860m safety technology investment plan to make Cape Town safer.
“This rollout is the first of its kind in South Africa and forms part of the City’s R860m safety technology investment over the next three years to make Cape Town safer.”
Furthermore, the city will equip 800 officers with bodycams and install 290 in-vehicle dashcams this financial year.
Cape Town’s safety and security Mayco member, JP Smith shed light on this groundbreaking move, saying “Today we launch the latest and our biggest advantage for tech driven, evidence led policing!”
He elaborated on the functionality of the body and dash cameras:
“With our response vehicles now having forward and rear facing smart cameras, every single vehicle is tracked on our roads in real time. Wanted vehicles, stolen vehicles, hijacked vehicles, any vehicle that has been flagged for interest, the officer is immediately alerted.”
“With our GPS based vehicle tracking system that already plots every officer on a live events map, the closest officer is always despatched to any emergency incident,” he added.
“Our CCTV integration, Shotspotter gunshot acoustics technology and with our aerial surveillance Drone units providing real time situations awareness, Cape Town now has the most technically advanced policing environment in the whole of Africa!”
In summary, Cape Town’s R860m+ safety tech investment includes:
• R118.4m on CCTV
• R118m on Dash and bodycams
• R109m for Aerial surveillance
• R22m on drones
• R10m on gunshot location tech
• R442m on Licence Plate Recognition, EPIC digital coordination, radios, comms systems, IT and network upgrades
Meanwhile, the same move is set to be implemented by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) traffic officers next year.
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