public safety

Police use cameras to stop crime

The new video surveillance system has helped police both prevent and solve crimes and mediate traffic disputes

New "interactive" cameras in high crime areas allow people to speak directly with emergency operators

Jorge Fernández/la prensa

neighborhood watch: Policía Nacional officers monitor the city via a system of 265 cameras.1015299

It´s 11 p.m. and not a soul stirs around the multi-family units of Barraza. The buildings´s residents have retired to their homes for a well-deserved rest. Suddenly, two men appear at the door of one of the buildings at the far end of Calle 15, lurking in the shadows and acting suspiciously.

The two men apparently don’t know that they are being observed. One lights a cigarette, the other puts a cell phone to his ear and then darts inside the building. When he comes back out, a pistol hangs heavy in his hand.

A short distance away in San Felipe, a Policía Nacional (PN) officer is monitoring the two via a surveillance camera. When he sees the glint of gunsteel, the officer activates an alarm, notifying a Lince squadron of police officers on motorcycles.

And just as an unseen predator hunts its prey, the officers surprise the two shadowy figures, stripping the one of his gun.

Although authorities don’t know what the two men may have been planning in Barraza, the incident is one of the many would-be crimes forestalled with the aid of camera surveillance.

Since last December when the video cameras were installed as part of a program aimed at beefing up security in the capital, the 264 cameras have recorded nearly 3,000 hours of city happenings, from El Chorillo, where there are nine cameras, to San Felipe (10), Bella Vista (56), San Francisco (45), Parque Lefevre (32), and every neighborhood in between.

According to Lieutenant Carmelo Chéry, a member of the team responsible for implementing the video vigilance program, the camera systems operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the recordings are reviewed in real time by five-officer groups organized into six-hour shifts. The surveillance headquarters is located in San Felipe.

In the last few months, the video recordings have aided police in confiscating firearms in Calle Uruguay; alerted traffic police of problems on Avenida Balboa; interrupted a fight on Via Porras; and caught more than 100 people loitering in a suspicious manner in commercial and banking centers.

Chéry said he has also submitted 45 video recordings to the Ministerio Público as part of evidence collection in criminal cases.

One such case occurred in Coco del Mar on Saturday, March 29, when two men were executed inside of a vehicle, and some of the crime was captured by surveillance cameras in the vicinity.

In another incident, a man told traffic police that his car had overturned after being hit by another car, but when the videotapes were reviewed, the recordings revealed that the man had been talking on his cell phone when he crashed into a sedan parked on in the shoulder, which caused his car to flip over.

Chéry explained that the video recordings collected from the 264 cameras are stored for three months before being discarded. That is, unless they contain potentially incriminating images.

In addition to the cameras strategically placed just out of reach but often within plain sight, there are 46 interactive video cameras that allow a person to communicate directly with emergency operators. By clicking on the camera´s activation button, the lense is directed towards the "caller," who is then able to talk with an operator via an intercom.

These interactive surveillance cameras have been installed at shopping malls, banks and areas with a high incidence of crime. Chéry and his team have plans, however, to expand the emergency service to San Miguelito, Don Bosco, Tocumen, Juan Diaz, Pedregal and the Canal zone. They also expect to place more cameras in San Felipe and to test similar systems in the cities of Colón and David.

The expansion should begin this May, said Chéry. Consequently, the Policía Nacional will need to also expand the surveillance headquarters in San Felipe which would include hiring more staff to man the monitors.

In the meantime, the video cameras themselves may need their own security system. Earlier this year, a camera in Chorrillo was shot numerous times by gang members in an attempt to disable it prior to committing a crime. The camera escaped the encounter unscathed.