Why:
Over the last year crime has increased notably in our area and there has been a demand from our community to take action.
How:
Using modern technology, we can see more of our neighbourhood more of the time.
It enables our residents to get involved in new ways – whether through contributions to help fund the rest of the camera project, or for example donating time as ‘virtual patrollers’.
CCTVs also have the potential to reduce crime.
The cameras may be able to assist in the detection and arrest of offenders and could help prevented them from committing further crimes within the CCTV area or other local areas.
Success stories:
- Tara NW
- Valmary Park NW
- Kendal Road NW
- Racecourse Road NW
All the above NW have been able to reduce crime incidents from 10+ per month down 1-2 per month. They have been able to successfully do this by using CCTV technologies and working together.
Where would the cameras be placed?
During phase one cameras would be placed at all eight ingress and egress points of our neighbourhood. Phase two would see cameras being placed at strategic locations throughout the neighbourhood.
How does the camera technology work?
A camera is installed on a NW members property which can view an area of interest. On the camera we configure digital trip wires, which when crossed would trigger a digital alarm and send a 3-5 second video to a predefined Telegram monitoring group (For example to the patrollers and / or Security groups), at the same time the camera uploads the same video feed to centralised console in the cloud called Virtual Patroller.
Recording only the alarm activations reduces the bandwidth usage to a minimum on the NW members internet connection. The bandwidth used would be predominantly the upload portion and not the download portion which is used for YouTube etc.
Example image from Telegram:
What is Virtual Patroller?
It is a cloud hosted centralised console to view all your camera alarm activations in one place, an authorised person can logon at specific times to monitor the cameras, the cameras update with the latest alarm video received if a digital trip wire has been tripped. A person then has the option to go into the live feed of a single camera if needed.
Who monitors the cameras?
As we have physical patrollers now, we will have virtual patrollers who will be able to log into the Virtual Patroller system in the cloud from the comfort of their home monitor the cameras call for backup in the form of other patrollers and contact the AR companies control room. Patrolling from home will be from midnight to 4 am, we will need more volunteers to help patrol.
We are also exploring the idea of having a dedicated Nerina NW response team staffed by members of the community who could respond to incidents.
What would happen if there was an incident?
If we needed high quality video footage from any of the cameras we would have approximately 2 days to download it before it is over written.
What is an incident?
An incident is something that has been logged at the police station and has a case number for further investigation. The camera system objective is to help keep us safe.
Privacy?
If an installed camera has any view onto private land, we will blank off that section to assure that there is no loss of privacy. All camera video is overwritten every 48hrs and none of it is kept unless for further investigation by the police. All patrollers who will monitor the system will need to sign a code of conduct before gaining access.
Neighbouring NW:
There have been some discussions to allow for neighbouring NW to be able to access each other’s Virtual Patroller systems to be able to track individuals of interest.
Costs?
Costs are split into two portions, Initial installation costs and running costs.
Initial costs are between R12k and R15k, each installation site will be slightly different due to the ease of the install, how far cable needs to be run. We will be able to provide a breakdown on pricing once we have confirmed camera installation location and have confirmation from the property owners.
Running costs are for the Telegram notification and Virtual Patroller systems which are R35 per camera per month, we also would need to factor in maintenance costs for items such as power supplies, cables and cleaning of cameras etc.
The entire phase one project will be approximately R120k, if each household could make a donation of R1000 we would have more than enough money to complete phase 1 and have a start on phase 2, however we understand that everyone circumstances are different and not everyone will be able to support this initiative.
We will also be asking members to start donating on a regular monthly basis to support the running costs of the cameras, what ever is affordable between R50 and R150 per month.
If you are able to support this initiative we would greatly appreciate it, you can do so from our donations page.