Jul 13, 2015
LAHORE - The Punjab government is going to launch the much-awaited “Punjab Safe City Authority” project in the provincial metropolis by the end of the current year with funding worth billions of rupees.
Recently, the provincial government promulgated an ordinance to make all departments concerned sit together under the banner of an authority and ensure transparent and quick establishment of a security surveillance system with an estimate cost of Rs10 billion.
The Safe City is a concept for returning security, safety, and quality of life to today’s complex cities through the use of technology, infrastructure, personnel, and processes.
Inflated populations in the inner cities result in crime, vandalism, and a major target for terrorism. This directly impacts the country’s economic, political, and personal well-being. Municipal surveillance demands a non-intrusive security solution while at the same time must address the diverse range of sensitivities, routines, and systems used by various emergency services (police, fire, health, emergency services, etc.)
When an accident or incident occurs, effective and accurate response and reaction to an event is made possible.
The Punjab Safe Cities Authority, to be established under the Punjab Safe Cities Ordinance 2015, will ensure establishment, development, and maintenance of a command, control, and communications system (IC3) in major towns in the province for people’s security. Reportedly, the plan has three parts – one is installing cameras everywhere in the city, second is to monitor the city through them and give information to police for action, and the third is the response itself. The key element is the police response to the digitally obtained information of a crime and its location.
Safe City is a new paradigm to fit modern cities and the rising cost of manpower; it combines the street patrolman’s intuitive approach with state-of-the-art observation, communication, and information management.
According to urban experts, crime and fear of crime have long been recognized as a major challenge to sustainable cities. It also has a significant impact on quality of life.
Punjab chief minister believes that big cities would be secured under the Punjab Safe City Project by employing state-of-the-art technology. In background interviews, government officials and IT experts pointed out that there are many flaws in this project that need to be fixed first. For example, the government has decided to appoint senior police officers on technical slots. According to the qualification/experience required for the post of Project Director, Additional Project Director, and Deputy Project Directors for the Integrated Command, Control, and Communication system they should be police officers of the rank of DIG and SSP. Unfortunately, these police officers would work as additional director and deputy project directors on technical posts like transition and transformation, technology, HR and training. Experts say that only highly-qualified professionals should be appointed on these posts.
The Safe City Control Center provides a hub for the analysis and dissemination of information collected from various sources including government agencies, private organizations and individual citizens as well as specialized equipment such as sensors and cameras. The results are faster, more effective responses to service outages, streamlined law enforcement operations and real-time management of crisis situations.
Police officers say urban growth and terrorist threats are the main drivers for safe city technology advancement. “There is no instant solution; safe cities are built by small and scalable initiatives.” For an instance, Hong Kong had frequent public demonstrations and events that require police monitoring. In 2012, police managed a total of 7,529 public order events. Video technology has been used to support crowd management. “But people are the key to safe cities,” according to experts. “Safe cities imply smart citizens.
In addition, as the public becomes more connected with smart-phones and broadband access, more information comes into law enforcement from the public, and the public’s expectations for governmental services and safety increase.
The provincial government has already jacked up spending on law and order with the police budget allocation alone rising by an unprecedented Rs13 billion for the fiscal year 2015-16. During its budget estimates presented in the Punjab Assembly, the government proposed an allocation of Rs94 billion for the police department against the last year’s allocation of Rs81 billion. Under this project, the government has been planning strict surveillance of miscreants and offenders by using modern tools including CCTV cameras. Quick police response in cases of crimes and terror is also among the salient features of this initiative. This project of surveillance system would be completed in Lahore by December 2015. However, the project would be launched in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, and Faisalabad cities in 2016.
According to insiders, more than 2,000 CCTV cameras would be installed on the leading roads across the Punjab capital for the round-the-clock surveillance. A state-of-the-art command, control, and communication system is being established at the Qurban Police Lines in Lahore for this purpose. Only policymakers can tell how effectively a police officer can run the affairs of a purely technical project.
(The Nation)
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