At least 2,546 CCTV cameras have been installed so far out of the projected 3,233 in Kampala, police have said.
Speaking at Naguru headquarters, police spokesman Fred Enanga told the weekly press briefing on Monday that total surveillance camera coverage in Kampala stands at 78 per cent.
Cameras are supposed to be installed in 1,248 sites along major highways and public roads. He said the trenching exercise, which involves digging and inserting camera fibre cables is supposed to cover 1,258km but 1,083km have been covered so far, making it 86%.
There should be 18 monitoring rooms within Kampala Metropolitan Area because it consists of 18 divisions but 11 rooms are active, he said. He said the purpose of the cameras is to basically monitor public places and assist in detection, prevention and investigation of crimes.
He also said cameras will help in gathering information and monitor paroling officers in the Kampala Metropolitan area.
“These are intelligent CCTVs which can basically tell you that along Kampala road at a specific position the officer in charge is not on duty then they alert the operations officer and the other commanders…,” Enanga added.
He said laying of fibre cables has been complicated by private property owners and proprietors who are not willing to see their properties dug up. “This has brought legal challenges in one way or the other,” he said.
There will be an upload of various videos to demonstrate to the public the importance of the CCTV camera scheme and how it helps in addressing crime and disorder, he said, adding that most videos so far have captured incidences of traffic accidents, robbery, theft of vehicle parts from parked cars and disorder within the city.
He added that CCTV cameras alone cannot fight crime. Enanga emphasised that after the completion of the first phase of camera installation, police will encourage the private sector to log their CCTV camera systems onto the national CCTV system.
“This is due to the murder at Nasaland primary school; if the CCTV camera was linked to the monitoring centre at Old Kampala, our response could have been much faster but this footage was stored in the morning and started going viral in the afternoon and so such hindrance will have to be harmonised,” he further explained.