The government of Córdoba, Argentina has announced that the police department will be rolling out new video surveillance cameras and employing more personnel to help combat crime in the city.
According to an announcement, the Córdoba Police Citizen Communications and Video Surveillance Center will be expanded to accommodate for the increased functions and the additional personnel will monitor what happens on public roads.
The city government says that once the project is complete in the near future, there will be 148 monitoring posts, which will observe both fixed surveillance cameras and domes. A total of 3,500 cameras are expected to be deployed in different sectors in the city.
Additionally, the government says that the project will be carried out in stages and as the installation of new surveillance domes progresses, more monitoring posts will also be added.
An initial 30 new positions for personnel will be created, while a further 70 personnel are expected to join, bringing the total to 100 new personnel.
In the current monitoring center, 65 operators work in tune with their five respective co-ordinators (one per zone: center, north, south, east and west) and a general co-ordinator, in five rotating shifts.
Each zone’s co-ordinator reports to the general co-ordinator. This, in turn, is linked to the general supervisor of the 911 line.
According to Martín Barrientos, Director of the Center for Citizen Communication and Video Surveillance, the service “will continue to function as it currently does, in connection with the 911 center and immediately reporting everything seen on the cameras, supervised by zone co-ordinators and a general co-ordinator… Each operator in each area has its cameras and its sector to observe, with a communication team directly linked to 911; it remains alert to situations that occur and also listens to other commissions that enter through this same 911 line.”
The government says that, at present, the monitoring room used to control what happens on public roads in the city of Córdoba occupies an area of 408 square meters. With planned building works to accommodate for the expansion, the space will grow to 750 square meters.
It will be equipped with monitoring posts, desks with computers with two monitors, dimmable lighting, a 25 linear meter video wall, automatic access doors and all the necessary wiring and equipment for weak signals.
“Being larger and with the planned building improvements, it will have another format and will allow interaction more effectively,” added Barrientos.