During the last JKP meeting, among other things we discussed was the existing CCTV system that MPSJ has in place, as well as whether we would like to head down the road to install more CCTV throughout our township. 

There was mixed opinions on this matter. Some felt that it could be a deterence to crime as well as be very useful for evidence gathering in solving crime.


On the other hand, some expressed skepticism that the exisitng and any future CCTV will not be maintained properly and manned by qualified personel, including the police.
With that in mind, I decided to visit MPSJ's CCTV operations room. It was a spot check, they didn't expect me that evening. Unfortunately, I'm unable to show pictures of that room here. The concerns I had:

  1. Whether all the cameras are functioning
  2. Whether the cameras could capture sufficient detail to be of any use, especially for gathering of evidence. 
  3. Whether the CCTV room is always manned. 
  4. Whether the officers there knew how to operate the system, i.e. select a camera on demand, zoom in, etc.
  5. Whether the recording of CCTV actually existed, and if the officers knew how to look up a recording based on the camera and time given. 
I was glad to know that they passed all 5 of my criteria very well. The officers manning the CCTV monitors knew what they were doing, and were able to pull up information fast as I randomly requested them. 

The CCTV feed is also given to the police, at the Subang Jaya Police District HQ. Unfortunately, we don't know if they are monitoring the feed of 90 cameras with diligence. 

Moving forward from here, there is a number of proposals for CCTV.

1. Expand the amount of CCTV from 90 upwards within the same system. 
2. To create capacity for private CCTV owners to feed their images into MPSJ's system. Banks, shopping malls, office complexes, highways, shops, and even some houses already have their own CCTV. If they are willing, they can then feed it to MPSJ's system. Whatever is in MPSJ's system goes to the police as well. This will certainly help in providing better overall coverage. I am told that the city of London has 60,000 CCTVs. I believe we will never get close to that without public participation.
3. To link our CCTV feed to the operators of 999. Telekom, which is operating the 999 service is doing a pilot project (Cyberjaya if I'm not mistaken) where their computer system will trace the location of the caller, and pull the the feed from the nearest CCTV camera. This would assist them in providing better service. 

The downsides to CCTV are
  1. Privacy concerns - some people may not be too comfortable with too many cameras watching everywhere. I'm dead set against cameras aimed into private property, but am all for camera that cover public spaces, such as roads, the front of schools, parks, etc. 
  2. Whether the police is actually monitoring - Well, at this point, we can only hope that the police is monitoring actively, and taking action as well. But at the very least it'll help in investigating crime (or even council offences like illegal rubbish dumping)
  3. Cost. At the moment we are spending a little over RM1mil/yr for CCTV operations. As we increase the amount of cameras, the cost is bound to go up. Some may argue that the council should stick to its core activities and get them right, such as roads, drains & parks.
Public feedback is most appreciated as we move forward. To balance cost, and the need to create a safe city.