‘50,000 cameras still need to be installed for Safe City Project’

To further secure Karachi and its people, the city police chief has decided to speed up work on the surveillance system project that he had started during his previous tenure as Karachi’s top cop, saying that some 50,000 cameras still need to be installed as part of the Safe City Project.

According to officials, Additional Inspector General of Police (Addl IGP) Ghulam Nabi Memon held a meeting regarding coordination and the linking of private cameras installed across the city with the surveillance system.

The meeting also decided to link the cameras installed at banks and other financial institutions with the Sindh police’s Central Command Centre for investigating, monitoring and controlling crimes and other related law & order matters.

The meeting reviewed at length the launching of a pilot project considering the entry and exit points as well as the surrounding areas, including car parks, of every bank and financial organisation located on the city’s major thoroughfares.

The meeting was told that a survey of the city’s mainstream locations was carried out earlier to ascertain the points where much effective surveillance is needed.

The meeting was also told that a study of a number of roads and streets connecting to different areas and major thoroughfares was done with comparative analysis of deployment of manpower, police mobiles and motorbikes for monitoring purposes for taking quick action.

Officials said that keeping in view the prevailing law & order situation, especially street crime, Addl IGP Memon has finally introduced the Safe City Project — also called the Camera Surveillance System or the Command & Control Unit — and assigned it to Security Division chief Dr Maqsood Ahmed.

The Sindh police had earlier installed 2,300 cameras at different locations across the city, but after their installation, they were never maintained. However, in a recent meeting with the provincial government, a decision was taken to install eight- to 10-megapixel cameras at different locations across the city in phases.

After selecting some locations in every district of the Karachi police, cameras were installed at around 60 locations in District East in the first phase. These locations lie in the jurisdictions of the Ferozabad, Tipu Sultan, Sharea Faisal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Aziz Bhatti, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Airport and Model Colony police stations.

In District Central, around 30 locations were selected in the jurisdictions of the Samanabad, Gulberg, Jauharabad, Azizabad, Yousuf Plaza, Rizvia, Gulbahar, Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Sharifabad and Super Market police stations.

In District West, 30 locations were selected in the jurisdictions of the Baldia, Madina Colony, Saeedabad, Ittehad Town, SITE-A, SITE-B, Pak Colony, Shershah, Orangi Town, Iqbal Market, Surjani, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Peerabad, Pakistan Bazaar, Manghopir and Mominabad police stations. In District South and the City Division, some 80 locations were selected in the jurisdictions of the Clifton, Boat Basin, Gizri, Darakhshan, Sahil, Kharadar, Mithadar, Risala, Mauripur, Mochko, Docks and Jackson police stations.

Officials said the locations were selected based on schoolchildren’s movement, religious places, businesses’ and government officials’ exit points, main entry and exit points, street crime hotspots, VVIPs’ and visitors’ movement and commercial areas, or to monitor street criminals’ movement and activities, gang wars, high-risk areas and target-killing points. The project has already been finalised, and Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has also been taking keen interest in the project, ordering the allocation of funds, and making the assurance for releasing the funds and launching the project.

The surveillance system also covers the National Highway, the Super Highway, and the RCD and Coastal highways. The proposed system will be commanded through the most modern Command & Control System. crimes and other related law & order matters