The Uganda police have kicked off the third phase of the National CCTV Network Expansion Project that will among others see both private and government CCTV cameras connected onto the national grid.
The third phase of the CCTV camera project was launched by the Deputy Inspector General of Police Maj Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Katsigazi in Muyenga in Kampala who will act as a pilot. According to Yusuf Ssewanyana, the police director of Information, Computer and Technology, the third phase will mainly involve widening the connectivity of the CCTV cameras by connecting private cameras onto the national grid.
“The cameras we have now are not many. We therefore want to leverage on private CCTV cameras. We will now require private individuals to connect cameras to their facilities and we will put in place standards to be followed before connecting to the national grid. Since there will be many cameras, we will need to increase the storage capacity and sophistication to remove human intervention by use of science to catch criminals,”Ssewanyana said.
He said in this phase, the government will procure and install over 5000 CCTV cameras, especially automatic number plate recognition cameras to augment those already installed but also the private ones.
“We realised criminals use mostly vehicles and motorcycles. We will be using automatic number plate recognition cameras to close the gaps that criminals have been using to commit crimes. We will also install invisible cameras to help us catch them.” He noted that by piloting the new project of connecting to private cameras in Muyenga, police hope to roll it throughout the entire country.
Yasin Omar, the Muyenga LC1 chairperson said they hope to mobilise at least 70 homes installed with CCTV cameras to see they are added onto the national grid as part of the pilot.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police Maj Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Katsigazi applauded Muyenga for embracing technology but also accepting to work as the pilot for the third phase of the installation of the CCTV cameras.
“We wanted people who could help and allow us to tap into their cameras. Now you have answered it in a loud voice and we are very happy. We call upon others in this country especially in urban areas .We are talking to KCCA and other urban authorities to ensure all facilities have cameras for their own security and for the communities. You should allow us to tap into them so that we have a wider coverage for the entire country, “Maj Gen Katsigazi said.
“Right now there is no law compelling everybody to put cameras but we are asking authorities to put laws and ordinances in place that compel facility owners to include security cameras, security lights.” The deputy IGP however asked the government to put in place measures that will ensure CCTV cameras are affordable for all Ugandans. “We appeal to the government to make cameras affordable by reducing or removing tax on them so that each and everybody can afford them.”
