WINDHOEK – A total of 70 CCTV cameras around the city centre can be maneuvered to watch you so closely that even your slightest expression can be picked up.
The cameras watch over even the smallest and narrowest streets and walkways around the city centre. Aside from the city centre cameras, there are four other CCTV cameras at roadblocks at Brakwater, Heroes Acre and Daan Viljoen and one at the road block on the way to Hosea Kutako International Airport. The camera footage is viewed in the city’s Cyclops Centre, opposite the Windhoek fire brigade.
Last week New Era accompanied City Police Senior Superintendent Gerry Shikesho and spokesperson Helena Mootseng to the Cyclops Centre, where in one room, six big widescreen TVs are mounted on the wall and on each screen footage from various cameras can be viewed, showing pedestrians going about their business on the city’s streets. Suspicious activity appeared in the footage of one camera leading to a new operation. As we watched, a young man snatched a bag from a parked motor vehicle. A camera monitor showed the young man with his shoulders slightly hunched, slipping his hand into a vehicle and removing a bag from it before walking off.
City Police officers in that vicinity were tipped off and they promptly established the whereabouts of the suspect, who was subsequently apprehended.
Shikesho demonstrated how effective the cameras are. On another monitor the camera zoomed into a shop at Nambambi Valley to show its interior. “Footage is recorded and stored and police can access it if it is needed for an investigation,” said Shikesho. He said footage from the cameras is state evidence and members of the public who wish to view the footage can do so by placing formal requests through the police.
According to Shikesho, the issue of privacy was discussed and it was found not to be a serious hindrance. “Who would want to do private matters in public places,” he asked, adding that the cameras are there to safeguard everybody’s safety. The cameras have varying purposes, which include informing municipal staff of faulty streetlights, crime and fire prevention and detection, traffic management, ensuring quick responses to medical emergencies and detecting infringement of by-laws.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa