Crime statistics in South Africa paint a grim picture, with the country’s crime index at 75.4, according to an article published by Statista – the highest in Africa and among the highest globally. In the quest for increased safety and security in our communities through reduced accidents, death rates and increased transparency among our law enforcement officers, we find modern automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera systems, body-worn cameras and digital evidence management systems playing a pivotal and crucial role in combating safety and security challenges in the ever-evolving law enforcement landscape.
In 2021, TMT collaborated with various law enforcement and private security agencies for a year to identify their primary challenges. The key issue identified was a lack of sufficient situational awareness to effectively respond to and combat crime. Recognising this, TMT aimed to leverage technology to improve perception, understanding and response capabilities.
In January 2022, TMT's Public Safety division launched the IRIS suite of products. Initially comprising two integrated product suites, IRIS features a body-worn camera platform focused on digital evidence management and an open ANPR platform emphasising flexibility and configurability.
IRIS ANPR’s creation was unique in that it was firstly created as a vehicular solution built on TMT’S long history of in-vehicle technologies. Support for portable and fixed cameras followed soon thereafter. The vehicle solution supports up to four ANPR cameras and four overview cameras, with live video streaming capabilities to the IRIS platform's control centre. Equipped vehicles have an Android-based heads-up display for real-time feedback on identified vehicles. The system compares detected number plates with SAPS, eNatis and various licence plate recognition (LPR) user group databases in real-time, alerting both the control room and drivers if matches are found. Alerts can also be sent to a dedicated app used by ground forces or forwarded to messaging platforms like Telegram, including GPS co-ordinate data, vehicle images and alert information.
- The IRIS ANPR platform aims to improve the conventional ANPR market in South Africa, which is mature but fragmented. IRIS integrates with any existing ANPR camera, supporting multiple makes and models with ongoing additions. It also allows users to create custom vehicle of special interest (VOSI) lists, with full auditability linked to specific user accounts. Similarly, static-fixed cameras can also be monitored for notifications and linked to messaging platforms for real-time feedback.
- TheIRIS platform may be used for other purposes, such as lane enforcement, for example, bus lane enforcement and vehicle access control using allow lists.
In a case study undertaken by our research team, it was found that there were multiple positive law enforcement impacts that were a result of the IRIS ANPR solution.
To name a few:
- During multiple taxi strike violence incidences that occurred in 2023, deployed officers equipped with body-worn cameras and in-vehicle cameras allowed for the recording of violent incidents and acts of vandalism. Taxi vehicles partaking in the strike were recorded and their licence number plates were identified and added to hotlists. In-field ANPR cameras automatically monitored these vehicles of special interest, sending alerts when spotted.
- This event, among several cases where footage was recorded, have been used as evidence in court proceedings.
- Terrain footage recorded from a search and rescue operation after a kidnapping took place in 2024 allowed for the identification and documenting of the terrain, obstacles along the path and assisted in assessing risk and ensuring safety.
Unlike other offerings that focus on hardware, TMT's body-worn camera solution emphasises efficient and speedy evidence management. All footage is indexed, geo-tagged and stored securely and encrypted. The platform also supports live tracking of body-worn cameras, with voice communications with the control centre and fully encrypted data transfer.
Historically, similar digital products required significant ICT infrastructure or cloud-hosting investments. TMT addresses this by offering the IRIS platform:
- As a software as a service (SaaS) model, with subscription fees per body-worn or ANPR camera.
- With a private mobile access private network (APN) to ensure data integrity and security.
In October 2022, the City of Cape Town selected the IRIS platform for its smart policing initiatives. Since then, the platform has been rolled out to SANRAL, Gauteng province and other public and private entities. Currently, the IRIS platform hosts more than 2 500 cameras of varying type and capability.
Zaid Gangraker, Head of Software Engineering for TMT, stated: “The rapid success and growth of our IRIS platform is a testament to our unique market approach. The rate at which we add new functionality far exceeds that of our competitors.”
TMT, headquartered in Cape Town, positions itself as a market leader in intelligent mobility solutions, traffic law enforcement technology and community safety technologies.
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