Always watching: 10,000 cameras to be installed to keep an eye on the city

KARACHI: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has approved a Rs10-billion project to install 10,000 surveillance cameras in the city within the next three years in order to keep an eye on Karachi.

He announced this at a gathering on Thursday. He added that apart from this, cameras already installed in the city will also be made functional.

Shah said that keeping in mind the history of criminal activities in the city, the police have identified over 2,000 spots where the 10,000 cameras should be installed. The cameras will be connected to the command and control centre from where they will be monitored.

Most of the surveillance cameras installed in various areas of the city are non-functional as their quality was not up to mark to capture clear pictures. Official sources said that the police and security agencies as well as investigators probing into high-profile murder and terrorism cases have always expressed concerns regarding this and have raised the issue time and again.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2016.