The Singapore Police Force has announced the completion of the installation of more than 62,000 cameras in 10,000 HDB blocks and multi-storey car parks.
This installation was under the PolCam 1.0 rollout plan, which cost $142 million and started in April 2012.
And now the police has expanded the program with PolCam 2.0, which will cover:
- public areas in town centres
- neighbourhood centres
- hawker centres
- walkways leading to transportation nodes such as MRT stations and bus interchanges.
The first cameras under PolCam 2.0 were installed last month at Ang Mo Kio Town Centre, Bedok Town Centre and Jurong Gateway. The plan is to install about 11,000 more cameras progressively installed over the next few years at 2,500 locations islandwide.
The PolCam 2.0 cameras will be completed over the next four years.
2,300 video clips from police cameras installed in Housing and Development Board blocks and multi-storey car parks have provided leads to help the police solve more than 1,100 cases, including unlicensed moneylending, theft and outrage of modesty.
In March, as the terrorist threat began to hit its highest level in recent times, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced a raft of counter-terrorism measures that included greater closed-circuit television surveillance in places with high human traffic.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Lau Peet Meng said that the police cameras at public housing blocks and multi-storey car parks have helped to keep homes and neighbourhoods safe, and the expansion of police cameras to other public areas in the neighbourhood and town centres will further strengthen the police’s ability to detect, deter, and solve crimes.
“We will continue to leverage technology as part of our crime-fighting and counter-terrorism strategies to ensure a safe and secure home for everyone” he added.
The PolCam 2.0 is estimated to cost 75 million dollars which will be carried out over two phases.
