Administration to install security cameras

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.