Uganda police force has started the process of installing Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras on all major urban centers, key road junctions and highways of Kampala, to step up security surveillance efforts.
The force has so far installed a first batch of 900 CCTV cameras around the Kampala metropolitan area under the Uganda police national CCTV network expansion project. These cameras shall be accompanies by traffic lights to ensure 24/7 surveillance.
“This is part of the first batch of 5,552 CCTV cameras prepared for the nationwide system that was delivered by Huawei, a Chinese firm among which, 3,233 are already slated for Kampala” Police writes.
Police teams in collaboration with Huawei have already started on the job, laying fibre cables which have so far covered 81km. the force has also partnered with urban authorities and government bodies including Unra, as well as Umeme to help in advancement of the project especially in managing effects of cable laying which involves evacuation.
“Much as this comes as an intelligent technological complement to the traditional crime prevention efforts, CCTV cameras shall be key in promoting spot on surveillance, traffic flow monitoring, investigation by securing witness cooperation and operational capabilities detecting number plates of vehicles, faces of suspects among others” Police adds.
President Museveni has been singing about the cameras for some good years, especially after murders of dignitaries. On Sunday during the National address, the president said that whereas the installation of cameras is ongoing, he will redeploy the reserved forces, arm them so that they can help fight crime in major urban centres.
