Metro Police use innovative technology to combat crime in the City

THE Metro Police’s new approach of using smart technology to combat crime in eThekwini is already yielding positive results.  

Using community CCTV systems linked to the police command centre and licence plate recognition, police can recover hijacked and stolen vehicles within a matter of hours. This was aptly demonstrated yesterday on November 7 when a hijacked vehicle was recovered by using the community CCTV system in Mayville.

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Working together with the South African Police Service, community policing forums, and the private sector, smart policing is being piloted in six wards in eThekwini. It will be rolled out to the wider region in due course.  

Deputy Head of the Metro Police Sbonelo Mchunu explained: “Smart policing will play an important role in deterring crime. The City is working with various partners and has seen much success in deterring crime and quickly apprehending criminals.”

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He added: “In the future, the City plans to have dash cams, body cams, facial recognition technology and licence plate recognition technology. This technology will be installed in our vehicles and linked to the command centre where it can be observed by the commanders. Crime will decrease as criminals will know that they are being watched.”