The SAPS and Stats SA crime statistics for the last quarter of 2020 reflect an increase in most types of crime across South Africa, with a 66.7% increase in cash in transit hijackings compared to the last quarter of 2019. Truck hijackings escalated by 34.2%, while attempted murder, carjackings and commercial crimes were also on the rise.
South Africa has great ambitions around improving public safety, but there are often significant gaps in delivery. The deployment and integration of the right kind of technology could not only improve service delivery by the South African police and emergency services, it could also improve public safety overall, says Qiniselani Moremoholo, sales manager at Motorola Solutions SA.
Digital technologies such as land mobile radio, bespoke software and body worn video cameras can all contribute to greater safety for emergency responders and members of the public alike, while improving efficiency and providing a record of events to uphold court convictions.
“One of the primary things required by any kind of emergency responder is a communication network that cannot fail. Public safety agencies in South Africa need to work safely and efficiently, which requires mission-critical communication that is always on and able to support users under any circumstances.”
The police service, in particular, is required to respond to armed robberies, cash in transit heists and burglaries, and these kinds of crimes require a quick response. By having the right people, processes and technology in place, they’ll be able to respond more quickly and hopefully even catch the criminals in the act.
Mission-critical communication enables the responders to talk to one another and communicate with the control room. “The recent shoot-out between police and robbers on the M1 in Johannesburg is a perfect case in point where technology enabled people on the ground to communicate among one another as well as with the control room in real-time. Without the ability to communicate, the police couldn’t foil these kinds of robberies.”
Radio communication enables instant, secure and safe communications and means the command centre knows where first responders are at all times owing to GPS location tracking in real-time of personnel. It also means that the closest resources can be dispatched to a crime, ensuring a speedy response and more efficient deployment of resources. The emergency call feature of two-way radio means that should paramedics come under attack, they can press a button that immediately provides their location and opens up their microphone so that the control room has situational awareness by hearing what’s happening in the first responder’s immediate environment.
Radio technology works even when the cellular network capacity is constrained, explains Moremoholo. He cites the example of a sports stadium. “Most of the time, the cellular network in the surrounding area can only support the local residents – not the massive influx of spectators at a sporting event. When cellular networks become suddenly congested they can’t cope and people are unable to send messages or make calls.
“Cellular operators build networks based on the population in the area – and that network isn’t able to expand capacity at a moment’s notice – such as over New Year’s eve, when everyone wants to send a message at virtually the same time. A radio network has essentially the same design as a cellular network, however it is private and not shared with the public, intended specifically to support public sector users. That’s why it works reliability all of the time”
Moremoholo estimates around 80% of government radio users in South Africa are still on analogue radio networks and devices. That means around 200 000 radio users in SA are yet to realise the benefits of using more advanced digital technology. Advanced software can provide a major safety and efficiency boost for public safety agencies. Every time an emergency call is made to 10111, it triggers a chain reaction around the deployment of emergency management resources. Technology enables the command centre to capture the right kind of data when a call comes in. The caller’s GPS location can be captured automatically from the person calling. “It’s all about improving situational awareness and response time. It’s key to capture the right information and send it to the right resources to enable a fast response in emergency situations.”
Today’s modern control room integrates various technologies ranging from telephony data from members of the public, radio calls used by dispatchers to talk to responders, video streams from CCTV and body worn video camera and mapping data. Integration of all of the available data provides a more comprehensive and cohesive overview of the event for both control room workers and first responders out in the field.
Data is captured from the minute an emergency call comes in, to when the police or emergency services arrive at the scene, to when the call is closed. Should the incident end up in court, this end-to-end data can be used as evidence. “It’s vital to be able to prove that the data has integrity and hasn’t been tampered with, but this type of evidence is much stronger than a video taken with a cellphone as we can trace the entire chain of evidence.”
Mobility solutions used by frontline personnel also help to increase efficiency and safety by reducing manual inputs and the use of pen and paper for reporting and task management. With a mobile policing application linked to the command and control centre, police in the field receive the information they need while on the go, such as access to multiple government databases. Under normal circumstances, an officer who stops a vehicle would have to call the control room to run a check on the vehicle and/or its driver. Now, the officer can enter the registration or identity number and get information immediately.
This gives police on the ground huge power; there’s no need to go back and forth with the control room. However it does rely on the government having up-to-date databases. This capability can also assist with finding lost or missing persons, or even someone with dementia who has wandered off, explains Moremoholo.
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