Cape Town’s CCTV cameras are stopping smash and grabbers in their tracks, and more are on the way, the city has said.
The city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said Cape Town’s strategic surveillance unit was set to install additional CCTV cameras to the tune of nearly R12m in the new financial year.
An amount of R7,4m has been set aside for 10 new cameras in Goodwood, Silvertown, Bridgetown and Gatesville, he said.
Ward councillors have also made R4,4m available for cameras in their respective areas.
The unit was also in the process of retrofitting existing cameras with automatic number plate recognition capability, and plans were being finalised for the upgrade of the city’s fibre network system, he said.
In the first four months of this year, the 440 CCTV camera network detected 3 313 incidents including accidents, crime, fires, etc. A total of 108 arrests were made during this period, Smith said.
He made an example of an attempted smash-and-grab suspect arrested on Monday, 13 June after he was spotted on the corner of Jakes Gerwel Drive and Jakkalsvlei Road in Bonteheuwel.
The suspected was arrested minutes after the incident.
“There is, however, still room for improvement. The response doesn’t always match the real-time events because resources are thinly spread. That being said, we are making progress and those with criminal intent are warned: you could be the next to be caught in the act,” Smith said.