DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 July) – The local government here will saturate the city with closed circuit TVs (CCTVs) for traffic control and crime monitoring, the newly appointed chief of the Davao City Public Safety Command Center (PSCC) said.
While retired Chief Supt. Francisco Villaroman said during the regular iSpeak media forum at the conference room at city hall that there is nothing wrong with Davao these days, the announcement came a week after three suspected kidnappers were killed in a shootout with authorities right in the middle of town during the rescue of Filipino-Chinese trader Sally Chua.
Villaroman said 130 more CCTVs will be installed on staggered basis aside from the existing 40. The additional cameras will reportedly cost the city P100 million.
He said the cameras will be put up in public places, especially in urban centers to manage traffic and track criminalities.
The new cameras, pointed out Villaroman, will be “more intelligent” since these have more functions and programs that would allow them to monitor crime statistics and traffic violators.
The CCTV footages, he stressed, can even be used as “technical evidence in court” as he spoke about the importance of the cameras in solving crimes and traffic violations within the city.
The PSCC, Villaroman said, has requested for more information technology personnel and engineers to monitor the cameras. He noted that they now need more people as they are changing work shifts – from the current two shifts a day to three so that the personnel will be on an 8-hour shift instead of the current 12 in the center’s 24/7 monitoring.
Apart from the cameras, the PSCC chief said they are also going to repair all police vehicles and procure some more. Also lined up for purchase are bulletproof vests, Villaroman added.
All these, he said, are geared to help the city respond to crimes better.
“As I see it, Davao City has no problem right now. [But] we have to further enhance our intelligence capability,” Villaroman added. (Florienne Melendrez / MindaNews)