Surveillance cameras keeping a close eye on the Dolphin Coast

After three years of planning and fundraising six surveillance cameras were installed at strategic points around Ballito, Chakas Rock, Salt Rock and Sheffield Beach last Friday.

The cameras are linked to a nation wide automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera system.

In February KwaDukuza municipality gave the go-ahead for the project which will see KDM joining hands with Ethekwini municipality as well as the Ballito UIP and local neighbourhood watches to install cameras around the district to make it easier to track criminal activity and determine preventative measures.

Ballito Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Candice Henderson said they were delighted to have finally implemented their biggest project to date.

“Thanks to Simon and Kim Peacock from RE/MAX Dolphin who approached us in March last year asking how they could help us, as well as to the benefit of the Salt Rock Neighbourhood Watch and Ward CPF’s.

“We shared one of our big project goals, which was to install ANPR cameras as a proactive intelligence-driven security approach.

“They immediately came on boar and thanks to the hugely successful RE/MAX #saferstreets fundraiser campaign, we have installed six ANPR cameras.”

Also read: Upgrades for highway as traffic monitoring equipment erected on N2 North

She said when a database listed vehicle drives past one of these cameras, the system automatically sends out an alert to a select vetted user group and allows all relevant community safety and local security stakeholders, including police, to respond.

Local security response companies can investigate suspicious flagged vehicles and when necessary, police officers will be able to intercept and stop a vehicle, check it for evidence and where necessary, make arrests.

She warned that these cameras were not a silver bullet solution to crime but that it was “a technology driven solution to deter or otherwise identify suspicious vehicles. They are also not a means to track people and invade on their privacy.”

“From us and all the residents of this area who are going to benefit from this project, thank you once again to Simon, Kim and their awesome team at RE/MAX Dolphin Realtors.”

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