Grey domes on street poles across Johannesburg – The latest crime-fighting tools

Hanno Labuschagne

Hanno Labuschagne

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Grey domes on street poles across Johannesburg – The latest crime-fighting tools

If you have driven around Johannesburg recently, you might have noticed a significant number of grey domes mounted on poles around the city.

Some of these installations have cameras mounted below them, while others do not. Additionally, some of these poles are branded while others are devoid of signage.

These fixtures are security installations deployed by Vumacam, Vumatel’s connected camera security division, which aims to crack down on crime in Johannesburg by effectively tracking vehicles and helping security companies to facilitate arrests.
 
Hanno Labuschagne said:
Grey domes on street poles across Johannesburg – The latest crime-fighting tools

If you have driven around Johannesburg recently, you might have noticed a significant number of grey domes mounted on poles around the city.

Some of these installations have cameras mounted below them, while others do not. Additionally, some of these poles are branded while others are devoid of signage.

These fixtures are security installations deployed by Vumacam, Vumatel’s connected camera security division, which aims to crack down on crime in Johannesburg by effectively tracking vehicles and helping security companies to facilitate arrests.
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This is pretty cool. Good use of any spare bandwidth! And to generate an income from it... Best idea ever. Everybody just talks about crime in SA. Vumatel and private security firms are doing something about it.
Government is becoming more irrelevant by the day. Totally their own fault when taxpayers decide to call it a day. Waiting for when citizens get together and are gatvol of paying for nothing in return and take the government to court.
 
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My only concern about this is if bad actors get access to the surveillance data. It may actually aid them in planning robberies and hijackings, since they can watch you in your car going in and out and then send their hijackers to meet you at your gate.
 
“Ok, the target is stuck behind 3 cars and the robot is red. Throw the brick at her windshield in 3..2..1”
 
Daruk said:
This is pretty cool.
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Agreed. If it works, then this will be a big win for fighting crime.

I also see no reason why JMPD et al cannot use this to monitor intersections known higher incidents of collision. JMPD should record the feed and nail motorists for jumping red lights and failing to stop at stop streets. The more that this sort of thing is used for policing toward the greater good, the better.
 
Do you really need that many cameras per a dome?
 
I would love to hear ResistanceIsWorthwhile or any other naysayers alternative workable solution to crime reduction? Will they take over national government and really heavily invest in and capacitate SAPS and justice system and reduce crime a lot? Will they take over CoJ/CoT and really heavily invest in and capacitate JMPD/TMPD and reduce crime a lot? Stimulate the economy and fix education? Or what will they plan and then actually implement and do?

If nothing, then they should STFU and get out of the way of those who are reducing crime.
 
quovadis said:
If you want imaging that can actually identify people at a distance then yes. Else, like every surveillance video online everyone looks like a potato.
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Interesting, so these low definition camera arrays work out cheaper than a few HD surveillance cameras?
 
Polymathic said:
Interesting, so these low definition camera arrays work out cheaper than a few HD surveillance cameras?
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No, focal lengths, zooms etc. Aspherical isn't as good as they're made out to be and from the pictures that looks like the intersection of William Nicol and Sandton Drive - A double carriageway/Major intersection so at least 4 required for each side of the intersection and the other two perhaps for vehicles approaching or the park on the one side.

Edit: Remember they're also monitoring pedestrian activity and number plate recognition etc.
 
Gaz{M} said:
My only concern about this is if bad actors get access to the surveillance data. It may actually aid them in planning robberies and hijackings, since they can watch you in your car going in and out and then send their hijackers to meet you at your gate.
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Carte Blanche did an insert on this last year I think... the system uses what is termed "black screen monitoring"

So personell in the control rooms stare at black screens... the system uses algorithms to identify a possible threat... eg. Same person / vehicle going down a street x amount of times.. or 2 guys close to a boundary wall etc, and only then will it pop up a picture for closer inspection by the control room staff.

The carte blanche episode is on you tube... incidentally , the team was robbed at gun point and their equipment stolen while doing the segment.
 
This is the best way to reduce crime in our country and is the future.
 
In the City of Joburg, one of our clients, a security company, is monitoring only 150 Vumacams over the course of only one month they responded to 20 Licence Plate Recognition alerts,” Vumacam said.

“These resulted in 33 arrests by the SAPS; 12 stolen vehicles recovered; the drivers of nine of these vehicles linked to various other crimes were apprehended."

It added that since the cameras were implemented in the Doornfontein area, crime has dropped by more than 40% and multiple arrests have been made.
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EXCELLENT.

Sad when taxpayer funded criminal-justice system is so bad that a private company has to do it's job.
 
My brother stays in fourways, mentioned that as a direct result of camera's and fourways having guards patrolling high traffic areas, has drastically reduced crime in the area, it has moved to the outskirts of these areas and neighboring areas without security and camera's.

Smash and grab crime is also gone, as this is normally done on foot, there is no clean get away now.
 
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