By Kidega Livingstone
Police arrests two soldiers, captured live on CCTV cameras, robbing civilians at gunpoint in Gumbo Shirikat neighborhoods.
National Police Service reports starting to reap benefits of security surveillance cameras.
Inspector General of Police, Gen. Atem Marol Biar, noted that the suspects were arrested after being monitored through CCTV cameras installed around the city.
On Tuesday, we managed to arrest two people in the area of Shirikat robbing people with pistols; all were soldiers, and they are now in prison,” Gen. Biar disclosed.
The police boss underlined that the CCTV cameras are only mounted in eleven stations across the city, and the rest of the areas are not covered, highlighting the limited capacity of the security surveillance system.
“The rest of the areas where we have the security cameras are working, covering everything,” he added.
Gen. Biar noted that though crimes are always being committed in every city, even in America, in South Sudan, the police have to minimize them.
“What we are doing now, with the lack of cameras where there are a lot of criminal activities, is deploying the police in those areas so that criminals are arrested,” he stated.
In January 2024, the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) spent approximately $83,300 to revamp CCTV cameras, enhance the security surveillance system, and boost around-the-clock surveillance in a bid to curb crimes.
Surveillance drones and CCTV cameras were installed in the capital, Juba, in 2017, but due to some hiccups, they got spoiled.
But this year, 2024, the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Atem Marol Biar, decided to refit the system to upend tailing criminals.
The Chief Communication Officer of the ICT department, Col. Michael Alith, earlier said that restoring the CCTV cameras after 4 years has helped in the crackdown on night robbers, highway criminals, and crimes in residential areas.
The minister of interior, Angelina Teny, also remarked at the launch of the CCTV camera that the Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) department is a very vital unit of the police in combating crimes as the number of crimes increases in the city.