CHIEF Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday inaugurated the Sindh Smart Surveillance System (S4) project aimed at providing a comprehensive and integrated security solution for all major entry and exit points connecting all major cities in the province. The system would enable effective monitoring of entry and exit points and ensure security through the integration of advanced technologies such as facial and number plate recognition at 40 toll plazas, including 18 in Karachi. They said that the project also aimed at enhancing security responses and seamlessly integrating with the existing command and control centre at the Central Police Office (CPO).
No doubt, this is part of the safe city projects launched and implemented in some parts of the country by federal and provincial governments but Sindh deserves credit for meticulous planning and implementation aimed at removing some of the flaws as observed even in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The very concept of the safe city project was to help check the growing crime rate including vehicle snatching but the system has been reduced to the limited scope of checking traffic violations and over-speeding. The system has miserably failed to identify car-lifters and dacoits and in many cases even plate numbers of the suspected vehicles were not legible. The response time of the system is also poor which favours the criminals and it was because of these flaws that people are losing faith in the safe city project terming it mere wastage of money. As against this, Sindh has taken care to address these issues and according to the Chief Minister the S4 project would facilitate the arrest of over 80,000 absconding criminals and reduce the crime of vehicle theft and snatching as the system was designed to have the capabilities for crime prevention and deterrence. It would assist the police in identifying suspects and criminals, locating stolen vehicles and conducting surveillance and investigations. The features of the system to capture and recognize number plates and faces of drivers and co-drivers would surely have a deterring effect on the overall crime situation. Installation of solar powered solution to ensure up to ten hours of battery backup would mean round-the-clock working of the surveillance system. Subject to successful working of the system, the Federal Government and other provinces might consider benefitting from the Sindh model.
