Cameras watching you, but who's watching cameras?

Dubai - Showcasing examples of CCTV footage recorded in Dubai Marina, Hadi explained how smart cameras could detect human movement in restricted areas and trigger alarms in the event of any breach.

Getting a grip on the growing role of cameras to monitor cities, a group of security experts discussed the challenges of 24x7 surveillance at the first ever Smarter Dubai Forum for Safety and Security.
"Video surveillance in smart cities can be either smarter or sharper. There is one camera for every six people in London. The big question is who is going to monitor all these cameras? Are there enough people to monitor millions of cameras? Smart cameras have an ability to monitor themselves with algorithms," said Hadi Rayees, Senior director - Middle East, Aviglon.
Showcasing examples of CCTV footage recorded in Dubai Marina, Hadi explained how smart cameras could detect human movement in restricted areas and trigger alarms in the event of any breach.
"Alarms can be triggered off if a car enters from the exit lane of a parking lot, drives in the opposite direction of traffic flow or even when human movement is detected in unauthorised areas," he added.
However, he warned firms against using low-resolution cameras which may prevent law-enforcement agencies from identifying any suspects.
"Cities are loaded with cameras recording at low resolution, which are useless in the court of law. What we really need is cameras which are capable of recording real good quality footage," explained Hadi. Col. Rashid Al Felasi from Dubai Civil Defense echoed similar views as he said: "Predicting a crime is one part of our job. A lot of the work we do involves analyisng the risk in different communities. When provisioning safety measures, we look at the population density of a community. A smart city needs smart people with smart equipment."
The use of multiple cameras to monitor civilian movement continues to raise privacy issues worldwide but the future in crime prediction will involve greater collaboration between public and private firms.
Pervez Siddiqui, Director of Strategic Markets at Genetec said: "You don't want cameras everywhere but there needs to be greater collaboration between entities and people living within a city. Time, trust and turf issue present themselves as obstacles to create a patchwork of cameras. The technology needs to enable different stakeholders to only share that what is needed."
Gorden Love, Regional Director at Symantec also explained the need to make cities safer by optimising the use of monitoring resources.
"Dubai is a leading example of such city. Smart cities improve safety and protect national assets and infrastructure. The platform to develop such smart cities needs a trusted, secure and reliable base.
People out on the street should not feel they are being watched 24x7 in an obtrusive manner," said Gorden.
muaz@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai