With the help of the community the Edgemead Neighbourhood Watch (ENW) was recently able to purchase five highly specialised CCTV cameras that will be installed strategically around the suburb, the watch says.
Mark Richards, spokesperson, told TygerBurger that the equipment is in actual fact “human detection” cameras – a sort of licence plate recognition (LPR), but for detecting pedestrian traffic through Edgemead.
“After experiencing the sheer success of the LPR camera system in our precinct, the neighbourhood watch decided to fully embrace technology to assist us in monitoring foot traffic, particularly in the early hours of the morning when any type of pedestrian traffic is fairly unusual,” says Richards.
Edgemead is currently experiencing a spate of burglaries between the hours of 01:00 and 05:00 and during these hours residents are usually home and this heightens the chances of a burglary becoming a contact crime, he explains.
“Our plan is to install a system of cameras that will detect foot traffic through the area. These ‘human detection’ cameras will be placed strategically throughout Edgemead and will send out alerts of any foot traffic to a response team comprised of neighbourhood watch members, the police and all our armed response companies.”
Richards says having cameras without a highly efficient and speedy response is useless.
“We currently have one camera already installed and we have had great success with our response team responding to alerts of people coming into Edgemead in the early hours of the morning. We are then able to track their movement on foot or in vehicles and the police can stop and profile them.
“We have also had an arrest of one burglar as a direct result of the alerts and we are absolutely confident that with a proliferation of these human detection cameras throughout Edgemead, we will catch these burglars and prevent many more burglaries and other crimes.”
The actual placement of the new cameras is being planned by a specialised team, which includes the police using data and other means to ensure that the cameras are perfectly situated to provide the response team with alerts from throughout the area, he says.
“We have so far managed to purchase four cameras in addition with the very generous support of residents, of two recent raffles, as well as much appreciated ad hoc donations from residents of quite significant amounts. These raffles will continue on a monthly basis to ensure we have coverage that the police, ENW and other expert role players deem sufficient.”
The goal is to add another five cameras by the end of the year, ENW says.
“Our residents have shown massive support for this new camera system knowing full well that it adds another layer of protection around Edgemead and the fact that the majority of residents have to pay armed response companies each month, indicates that people realise you cannot put a price on your safety,” Richards says.
