It is every citizen’s dream to live in a safe community. A city where every citizen feels safe and a city where the police don’t need to patrol the streets. Often, authorities are limited by technology more than human resources. Technologies such as video surveillance contain valuable information, however, most footage goes unreviewed and – even if manually reviewed – human analysts are rarely able to comprehend all the data that lies within it.
Recent research shows that smart technologies can reduce crimes by 30 to 40%, and enable 20% to 35% faster response times during emergencies. Through video analytics technologies, video data can be processed to identify, classify and index objects in the footage. Building a safer community in the Greater Male’ area is amongst the objectives of HDC’s ongoing smart city initiative. HDC plans to roll out a city-wide CCTV network that covers public spaces including the streets and parks within Hulhumale’. The cameras will be connected via HDC’s Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) network.
Subsequently, this network will be extended to the Greater Male’ area. HDC to begin with the public areas that envelop the 7000 Hiyaa flats in Phase II. The network will then outspread to the vicinity according to the urbanization plan of Phase II.
Video surveillance will make it possible to respond to evolving situations. Studies conducted in nine different countries suggests a modest decrease in crime with CCTV coverage. Video surveillance had a deep impact on drug crime with an approximate reduction of 20%. A drop was observed in criminal activity in residential areas. Moreover, CCTV coverage increases people’s perception of safety and their use of public spaces. HDC highlighted that upon completion of the GPON project in Phase I, the CCTV network will be extended to all public areas of Phase I.
The CCTV network, other smart infrastructure components, smart solutions and technologies are expected to facilitate better emergency response, preventive and predictive policing. Improved incident detection and cross-department coordination and connectivity are also anticipated.
