Cam-do attitude — many more eyes in the sky boost Joburg’s fight against crime

The Eyes and Ears Initiative (E2) is an official joint crime fighting initiative between the South African Police Service (SAPS), Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) and the Private Security Industry (PSI) whereby the PSI formally cooperates with the SAPS by relaying information directly to the Provincial Operational Command Centre (POCC) and in some instances, receiving such relevant information directly from it. Photo: Vumacam

By Kulani Nkuna

14 Jul 2024

Technology company Vumacam has joined forces with the City of Joburg, the Gauteng provincial government and Jozi My Jozi to deter crime and speed up response rates. And the results are impressive.

Crime has cast a long shadow over Johannesburg, shaping the daily lives of residents. Mbe Mbele, who lives in the inner city, knows this all too well. After being mugged, he felt a chilling sense of relief – a stark reminder of the resignation many residents feel towards crime’s inevitability.

“When I was mugged in Joburg,” Mbele reflects, “strangely, I felt relief. It was as if the danger had already passed, and a strange sense of acceptance washed over me.”

This experience exemplifies how pervasive crime has become, forcing residents to accept it as a part of daily life.

However, a collaborative effort is under way to rewrite this narrative. A key player is the technology company Vumacam, founded in 2018, which specialises in connected CCTV camera networks. Recognising Gauteng’s need for a comprehensive and sustainable solution, Vumacam partnered with the City of Joburg (CoJ) and the Gauteng government through signed memorandums of understanding.

Five years ago the company faced challenges including bureaucratic red tape surrounding CCTV camera deployment and wayleave applications. Despite these initial obstacles, the past 18 months have resulted in these collaborations evolving into robust initiatives that are bolstering public safety, response times and the effective deployment of emergency services in the city and province to crime scenes or areas showing unusual activity of some kind.

The control room that does the first-line verification and works closely with the JMPD. (Photo: Vumacam)

Joburg crime The control room. (Photo: Vumacam)

“The partnership aims to deter crime and expedite response times,” explains Xolani Fihla, spokesperson for the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD). Fihla emphasises the two-pronged approach: discouraging crime through increased surveillance and ensuring swift action when incidents occur.

The City has integrated 6,000 new Vumacam camera feeds into its network. This expansion significantly improves monitoring capabilities.

Fihla highlights the tangible results. “Our partnership has yielded impressive results in just 100 days. We’ve dispatched 1,918 police vehicles that have led to 94 arrests, 166 impounded vehicles and 275 vehicle interceptions. It has also reduced vehicle response times from 18 to 30 minutes previously down to between five and 10 minutes.”

These statistics show the impact of the technology and enhanced surveillance in detecting crime, enabling rapid law-enforcement responses and a proactive approach to managing and mitigating incidents swiftly.

Michael Varney, chief commercial officer of Vumacam, reflects on the initiative. “Initially, we faced significant opposition to our applications to erect the CCTV poles across the city, but today our network stands as a testament to perseverance and innovation,” he says. “Our collaboration with both the province and the City is a great example of a public-private partnership at work to make a real and lasting difference in areas such as the Joburg CBD.”

The network’s Proof platform, equipped with advanced machine learning, has already been used in more than 100 Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority-accredited private security control rooms. The network effect of multiple parties using the platform was bolstered by the addition of both the city and the province’s state-of-the-art control centres and the associated public sector police forces. These state-of-the-art hubs use real-time video footage and data to inform proactive responses to emergencies and emergency services’ needs.

The Eyes and Ears Initiative is an official joint crime-fighting initiative between the police, Business Against Crime South Africa and the private security industry. (Photo: Vumacam)

However, the integrated platform’s reach extends beyond crime prevention. It helps to monitor traffic flow, identify infrastructure issues such as broken traffic lights, potholes or illegal dumping sites, and manage the city’s service teams on the ground, including the South African Police Service, JMPD, Emergency Management Services and Pikitup, while supporting broader urban development goals.

Mbele, however, remains cautious. Although initiatives like this offer hope, he acknowledges the need for sustained progress. “Seeing more cameras being installed makes me feel a bit safer, but it will take time to truly change things,” he says. “Only if these efforts lead to a lasting decrease in crime and a stronger sense of security… will this feel like a real victory.”

Vumacam’s vision is to redefine urban safety through technology and collaboration. The company quickly recognised Joburg’s need for a comprehensive surveillance network. By integrating advanced AI analytics, it has revolutionised incident detection and response, leading to significant crime reductions in monitored areas.

The control centres into which the network’s feeds are presented are a critical component. Here, advanced AI data detects anomalies and any unusual behaviour in an area to thwart criminal activity in real time. Staffed by personnel from the communities they serve, these centres have transformed how urban challenges are managed, from emergencies to city services.

“The impact of our initiatives is undeniable,” says Varney. “Our partnership with both the provincial government and the CoJ has led to hourly crime prevention, arrests and, most importantly, aids in the prosecution of criminals. We provide the ‘eyes’ on the streets, but it is up to the law enforcement services to operationalise the intelligence we provide.

“Through black screen monitoring, the controllers have no facial recognition, and only view and act on about 3% of the video footage that is fed into the control rooms 24/7.

“Although our data shows that almost 95% of crimes are conducted using a vehicle, it is only when we pick up unusual or suspicious behaviour by a particular vehicle that we start tracing it through our licence plate recognition and overview monitoring cameras. This information is then fed through to the control centres for their controllers to dispatch the necessary security or emergency services to deal with the suspected criminal activity.”

Varney remains optimistic about Johannesburg’s future safety.

“We have also partnered with Jozi My Jozi’s safety and security pillar. Through this and our public sector collaborations, we are planning to install an additional 600 CCTV cameras across the city’s gateways, main intersections and planned walkable networks through the inner city. Where it is difficult to dig up pavements to install the network because of submerged infrastructure, cables and pipes, many of the inner-city landlords and stakeholders have shown a great willingness for us to erect the CCTV hardware on their buildings and make use of their power supply for connectivity, thus speeding up the installation process.

“This swell of support from everyone who wants to be involved in fixing the CBD and bringing people back into the city demonstrates the power of effective partnerships between the public and private sectors,” he says. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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