Administration to install security cameras

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration plans to install additional security cameras in high-risk crime areas in an effort to tighten security in the capital, an official said on Wednesday.

The head of the City Public Order Agency, Soebagio, said that apart from security, the cameras also would monitor traffic, floods, fires and other emergencies.

The administration already has closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in at least 20 locations, including a number of intersections considered to be particularly at risk for criminal activities, he said.

One of these locations is the grounds of the City Council, which has seen numerous rallies for and against Governor Sutiyoso and his administration's policies.

Soebagio said additional CCTV cameras would be installed around the city.

However, he could not give the exact number of additional cameras that would be installed or their locations, saying his office was studying the matter.

Soebagio said the administration needed to integrate the city's security communications system in order to improve security coordination.

Specifically, he said a lack of coordination among Jakarta's security agencies had resulted in at least two CCTV cameras being installed in one location by the military, police and the city administration.

"If the operation of the CCTVs can be controlled by one institution, more places in the city would be covered by cameras," said Soebagio, who is a former mayor of North Jakarta.

He said an integrated security system also would ensure financial efficiency in installing the cameras.

He said the city police and military had offered support for the administration's plan to centralize the operation of the closed-circuit cameras.

"I have met with officials from the city police and the military command and they welcome the idea."

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Soebagio said that if the city administration, police and military each had at least 20 CCTVs, 60 locations across the capital could be controlled by the communication and monitoring equipment.

Although the operation of the cameras would be integrated in a one-stop system, each of the three institutions could still control their own CCTVs so as to prevent others from obtaining access to confidential footage, he said.

He said that if the plan for an integrated security communications system was realized, it could become part of the city administration's crisis center currently overseen by his agency.