New hi-tech “spy cars” have slipped onto Cape Town’s streets and are already out nabbing unsuspecting motorists who break the law.
First, Capetonian motorists were warned about the new closed-circuit TV camera network which monitors streets in the central business district and subsequently many freeways.
Then came news of the City of Cape Town’s fleet of unmarked vehicles in the “Ghost Squad”.
Later, special cameras were mounted on the roofs of certain vehicles, which could “read” number plates.
STEALTH MODE
And now, in the latest move, these cameras have been hidden – instead of their tell-tale positions on vehicles’ roofs.
The system scans license plates as the car drives through traffic and alerts officers to any registered offences it picks up.
So on the roads are unmarked vehicles, not even carrying the CCT registration plates, which are secretly recording traffic around them and checking out vehicles whose drivers are wanted for previous offences.
The cameras are mounted behind the spy cars’ grilles and linked to screens on the cars’ dashboards for use by the officers inside.
First, video cameras can be activated to record the previous 15 seconds’ action, and continue rolling thereafter, as an officer activates the siren or blue lights.
So if officers see a car jumping a red traffic light, the officers flip a switch and the video camera will save the offence, and then keep rolling until the car is pulled off the road.
Then, second, as an officer steps out of his vehicle, the cameras continue rolling and a microphone attached to an officer’s belt or lapel will record his conversation with the motorist, transmitted back to his patrol car’s computer.
Third, still cameras behind the cars’ grilles “search” number plates on the roads and alert officers if any “wanted” vehicles are spotted.
During operations on Monday, the Cape Argus witnessed a taxi being identified as a “wanted” vehicle and being pulled over by officers.
For operational reasons, the City of Cape Town has not disclosed how many vehicles have been fitted with the new “spy cameras”.
“The City is always striving to achieve maximum efficiency with our policing staff and using smart technology is an important part of this,” a traffic official said.
