Video link-up technology that allows victims of crime to
communicate face-to-face with police officers is being extended in
the southern city.
Two video annunciators electronic devices with built-in cameras
linked to police monitoring centers have been installed at Dongmen
Street, a pedestrianized area.
Six others were put in place in another commercial centre of the
city, at the main crossroads at North Huaqiang Road, two years
ago.
It is part of a crackdown on crime, which will also see 200,000
surveillance cameras erected in the city by the end of this
year.
The annunciators are aimed at boosting the confidence of local
residents and also to help police pinpoint the exact location of a
crime.
"If people are robbed and are near a video annunciator, they can
press a button on it, which connects them to the monitoring centre
and allows them to communicate," a police officer on duty at
Dongmen Street said.
"By learning of the exact location of the theft or robbery, the
monitoring center?can search the area for suspects as the
whole commercial center is under the surveillance of a number of
electronic monitors. It could be more efficient to catch the
suspects."
The Luohu division of the local public security bureau, which is
in charge of the Dongmen commercial area, said it planned to erect
an additional eight video annunciators in the near future,
according to a report by Chinese newspaper Information
Times.
The annunciators in North Huaqiang Road commercial center have
been used by more than 200 people, who were either in critical
situations or needed help in tracing lost children, Shenzhen
Commercial Daily reported on Sunday.
A bank clerk surnamed Li, who was just passing the new
equipment, told China Daily she was pleased at the latest
efforts to crackdown on crime. She also suggested the government
should do more to advertise the new facilities.
The city has more than 7 million migrant workers and faces
severe security problems brought by the huge flow of people.
It launched a pilot scheme at the end of 2003 to put the
1.4-square-kilometer North Huaqiang Road commercial centre, which
hosts Asia's largest electronic components market, under the
surveillance of 38 electronic monitors, which has proved a great
success.
According to police statistics, there were at least 300 criminal
cases in the area on average every month in 2002, which dropped to
around 44 last year.
(China Daily January 10, 2006)