Nur Jazlan: Lack of funds causing delays in installing high-tech CCTV's at crime hotspots

KUALA LUMPUR: Budget constraints have caused delays in the installation of high-tech closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in public places, especially at snatch theft hotspots.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pix) said the plan to have an integrated national database CCTVs has yet to be implemented.
"It's in the works but budget wise I don't think it's approved yet," he told reporters at Parliament lobby today.
Besides budget constraints, Nur Jazlan said the other issue is that the CCTVS would fall under the jurisdiction of the local councils.
He said the CCTVs should come under the control of the police instead, because local councils only have the power to monitor and not to act.
"Currently, CCTVs are being maintained and operated by municipal councils. Although the quality of the images have improved, we cannot immediately identify if there was a snatch theft recorded by the camera.
"The recordings are kept by the respective councils. If the (planned) system is applied, the police will be able to monitor all the CCTVs from a central operations room," Nur Jazlan said.
He said the planned system would enable the police to have control of the database that would utilise facial recognition software, similar to the one used by the British police force.
"The system will also allow identities of people visiting or passing by a crime hotspot area, for instance, to be kept in the database, so there will be issues of privacy. But in this matter, security is a priority," he said.
Earlier he said street crime, especially snatch theft cases have increased in the past year, making it necessary to have such CCTVs in place.
"In 2015, there were 742 snatch theft cases from January to April and in 2016 there were 1,103 cases for the same corresponding period," he said.