Capital to increase use of cameras

By Kelly Arthur Garrett
El Universal
Dec. 16, 2006

Mexico City may not look much different a year from now, but if its government´s plan to install 4,000 new video surveillance cameras during 2007 is carried out, the nation´s capital will likely have a different feel to it.

Residents and visitors will certainly feel more watched, with one, two or several wireless cameras set up in each of the city´s 1,352 "territorial units" carved out for crime prevention purposes.

Joel Ortega, chief of police, is hoping they´ll also feel safer.

"We want to combat the fear," Ortega said Thursday. "We feel good about having achieved a significant decrease in the crime rate, but what we want now is for the population to perceive (the progress)."

The city already uses a modest video surveillance operation, for the most part limited to fixed installations in the Historic Center, camera set-ups in 12 patrol cars, and mandatory taping of all tow-aways.

The program will not only more than quadruple the number of functioning cameras, it will also take advantage of advanced technology for quicker response times as well as more fruitful longer-term investigations, according to Ortega, whose official job title is public security secretary for Mexico City.

The wireless cameras will use the Wimex high-speed microwave transmission system, with monitoring centers in each of the 16 "delegaciones," the borough-like governing bodies into which the city is divided. The centers will be connected to the 066 emergency call systems and operate in a "C4" set up, police jargon for a center capable of control, command, communication and computation. In practical terms, that means police response to crimes in progress can be quicker and more efficient.

That´s where the 20,000 new officers that the city is planning to hire, train and deploy next year come into the picture. Ortega emphasized Thursday that the two planned crime-fighting improvements - the surveillance program and the boost in personnel - are mutually dependent.

"If we had the cameras and not the increased deployment capacity, we wouldn´t be able to take advantage of the information," he said. "If we had the officers without the cameras, we´d be without the technical arm that helps the police do their work."

For Ortega, who said the city is following the model used by Athens as it beefed up security for the 2004 Olympics, the surveillance program means much more than scanning screens for suspicious behavior. "The cameras by themselves don´t solve the problem," he said, "The indispensable heart of all this is the technology inside them."

By that he means software programs that will enable investigators to use the taped information in useful ways. For example, city police will use a "face recognition" program that issues an alert if the face of a wanted criminal is picked up by any of the cameras.

Also, 16 cameras will do nothing but scan license plates, alerting officials when a vehicle they´ve been looking for - a stolen car, an illusive suspect - is spotted. The cameras will read 100,000 license plates a day.

Of the 4,000 new cameras, 2,352 will be distributed throughout the city, with some of the more crime-plagued territorial units getting more than one.

Another 932 cameras are targeted for dangerous areas where crime rates are especially high, and 600 will be added to the city´s road and highway monitoring system. A hundred will be used for the face-recognition program, with the final 16 dedicated to license-plate reading.

The city government has petitioned Congress to pay for the purchase and installation of the equipment, which is expected to cost 1.5 billion pesos, (US$144 million). Approval is not guaranteed, and Ortega indicated Thursday that the project would be in jeopardy without federal funding.

"We would lose a critical opportunity that comes with a change of government," he said.

Ortega said he would appear before the Congress as often as needed to lobby for the funds. "Congress should be amenable to assigning the funds to Mexico City, since they address the people´s primary demand, which is to combat crime," he said.