ASIF-KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday reiterated the commitment of the government to ensure law and order and safety and security of the citizens.

 

He said that enhancing the capacity of law-enforcing agencies and equipping them with latest technologies for effectively dealing with emergent situations and to keep the law and order situation under control was the priority area for the government.

 

This he said while inaugurating phase-I of the project of installation of CCTV Cameras in Karachi for the purpose of better monitoring and surveillance of the port city and to keep the crime rate in check by the law enforcing agencies here at the Chief Minister House Karachi.

 

Those who were present on the occasion included among others Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sindh provincial ministers, provincial secretaries of the concerned departments, senior officers of police and law-enforcing agencies and others.

 

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, while briefing the President about the project said that the provincial government of Sindh has undertaken a number of projects aimed at improving infrastructural and operational capacities of the police and other law-enforcing authorities so as to enable them effectively deal with the challenge of maintaining law and order in the province especially in the metropolis.

 

He said Karachi Video Surveillance System was planned in 2009 and a team of police officers was tasked to study the Video Surveillance model deployed by the Police department of London, Istanbul and UAE.

 

He said that in view of the cost of the project, it was decided to take up the project in phases. For the Phase-I of this project, the Government of Sindh allocated Rs. 690 million.

 

About the scope of the project, the President was informed that 164 pole site locations have been identified where five cameras will be installed on each pole.

 

The system would be supported by state-of-the-art data centre with storage capacity of 45 days and Video Forensic Lab with advanced video searching techniques.

 

Central Command & Control Centre with international standards along with Regional Centres have been established for the operational purposes.

 

The System would also include the facility of Vehicle Number Plate Recognition System at various locations and GIS based Handheld devices enabled with the Criminal Record Office and vehicle/other police data.

 

It was informed that 100 vehicle mounted cameras with live feeds to Command & Control Centre would augment the surveillance system of the metropolis.

 

The President was informed that the System has successfully been tested during the mega events including Moharram 2012.

 

It was informed that Sindh Police intends to launch Phase-II of the Project by enhancing the locations of Camera sites as well as capacity of data centre and additional Mini Command Centers with live access up to Police Station level.

 

The President appreciated the Sindh Police for launching the Video Surveillance Project in Karachi expressing the hope that the system would be instrumental in keeping law & order situation under control.

 

He also expressed the hope that the model will be replicated in other major cities of the country to deal with the issues of law and order.

 

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2012

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