Public, private places required to install CCTV

Public, private places required to install CCTV

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As part of an effort to improve security in the capital,
Jakarta Police revealed on Tuesday that all hotels, malls,
apartment complexes and office buildings are now required to
install closed circuit television (CCTV) systems, whose
recordings can be used by the police in their investigations.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said the directive
has been circulated on Nov. 30.

"We have asked building operators to meet with us to obtain
information on the regulation. We will train them how to install
CCTV, where to put the cameras and what to do once the commission
of a crime is caught on camera," he said.

Jakarta Police Directive No. 2/2005 stipulates that hotels,
apartments, malls, shopping centers, office buildings, and other
facilities, including banks and international and/or foreign-
owned facilities, in areas within the Jakarta Police's
jurisdiction, must have CCTV.

Tangerang regency, Depok and Bekasi all come within the
Jakarta Police jurisdiction.

Individual building owners will be required to show the
installed CCTVs by appointment to the police so as to ensure
compliance, Firman said.

Article 6 of the directive stipulates that any building
operators that fail to install CCTV will be announced in the
media, and the operators will receive punishments ranging from
fines, revocation of operating permits and even imprisonment.

The owners and operators of buildings must also hand over CCTV
recordings if a crime takes place in their buildings.

Failure to hand over the CCTV recordings will be punishable by
up to four months imprisonment.

Jakarta has been rocked by a series of bomb attack since
2000.

Firman said that recent experiences showed how CCTV recordings
could help police identify the perpetrators of terrorist attacks
and bank robberies.

The perpetrators of the bombing outside the Australian
Embassy, for instance, were tracked down after police examined a
CCTV recording from the embassy and several other buildings in
the area.

Firman said CCTV would be integrated into the police
surveillance network, which also includes the global positioning
system (GPS), panic button system, short message service (SMS)
and radio telecommunications.

Currently, the city police have 50 CCTV cameras installed on a
number of streets and in some buildings across the capital.

"We will ask the Jakarta administration to install more CCTV
cameras, including at bus and railway stations, as well as around
the airport," Firman said.