Number plate recognition technology is seeing the City of Cape Town make gains in fighting traffic violations, leading to the arrest of a motorist who owes the city over R200 000 in penalty fines.
Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR), body-worn cameras and CCTV, among other technology, have been introduced as part of the city’s efforts to bolster its crime-fight.
In a statement, the city says enforcement services arrested 360 suspects and recorded 71 843 traffic and by-law offences in the past week.
Furthermore, a 34-year-old motorist with 262 fines and 114 warrants, who owes the city R209 200, was also arrested, at the weekend.
While driving in Bellville, an officer attached to the city’s transport enforcement unit received an alert on the tablet in his vehicle, after the in-vehicle camera read the licence plate on a bakkie in front of him, according to the city’s statement.
“We’ve highlighted multiple arrests in recent months, where scofflaws have been tracked down, either by our specialist tracing team, or via the ANPR technology,” says alderman JP Smith, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety and security.
“This system is improving efficiency by allowing our officers to focus on the right vehicles, which means it is becoming increasingly more difficult to hide. I would therefore advise motorists to pay their fines timeously if they do not want to end up behind bars.”
Over the last few years, Cape Town has adopted an intelligence-driven policing approach. Last August, it announced290 in-vehicle cameras with ANPR technology − commonly known as dashcams – would be installed during the financial year.
ANPR technology uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates. It is used by police services around the world for law enforcement purposes. It can also be used for electronic toll collection on pay-per-use roads and as a way of monitoring the movement of traffic by highway agencies.
Meanwhile, the city’s safety and security portfolio committee has applauded the increase in CCTV detections.
At its recent meeting, the committee revealed that incidents detected between July and September totalled 17 234, representing an increase of 108% compared to the same period last year.
“The increased detection rate is directly linked to the measures implemented by the Metro Police Strategic Surveillance Unit to ensure more round the clock monitoring of the CCTV system, and the increase in cameras around the metropole,” says portfolio committee chairperson, councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe.
“It also bears testament to the efforts of the unit to keep cameras functioning, despite challenges like vandalism and theft of infrastructure, and we salute their achievements.”
The camera network is used to detect criminal acts, medical emergencies, accidents and other road safety challenges, fires and service disruptions like pipe bursts. The information is relayed to the relevant city services for action.
Criminal acts detected during the period totalled 9 632, with 110 arrests on charges, including robbery, possession of drugs, attempted murder, driving under the influence, murder and assault.
“CCTV cameras play an extremely important role in the fight against crime and minimise the risk of security threats in communities. Apart from daily patrols by our enforcement agencies, the CCTV network provides a valuable layer of additional cover. As we head into the busy festive season period, the network will be even more invaluable to our public safety efforts,” adds Nqavashe.
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