Filenews 20 November 2024
The Police recently submitted a request to the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection for the installation of fixed cameras at the entrances – exits of cities, on central arteries and at points connecting cities and suburbs, for the purpose of detecting serious crimes.
The cameras are the same as those used in Traffic Police cars and have already been installed, with the approval of the Commissioner, at the "Good evening" lights and at the barricades.
These cameras are "fed" with vehicle registration numbers from various police databases, read the license plates of passing vehicles and if they detect that the vehicle has an expired registration or certificate of unfitness or is stolen or an arrest or payment warrant is pending against its owner, it displays marking to the camera operator.
The Police's request is being examined.
In a note by Commissioner for Peace Loizidou Nicolaidou to the Legal Affairs Committee, which will examine today a proposal for a law by Nikos Tornaritis, Fotini Tsiridou, Nikos Georgiou and Charalambos Theopemptou, on the need to install a closed surveillance system on avenues and places of large gatherings of citizens, it is stated that "after consultation and approval during the Christmas and Easter holidays, for the safety of citizens, Nicosia Municipality operated cameras at the lift points in Eleftherias Square.
Following the same procedure, the Pafos Municipality operated cameras in the Park of Colours and the National Guard placed cameras along the ceasefire line, both for defence purposes and for monitoring illegal migration flows.
The Commissioner mentions that the "white cameras" installed under the Framework for the Development of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of Road Transport and interfaces with other modes of transport Law, L.158(I)/2012, for the purposes of traffic surveillance, operate on a 24-hour basis, but are installed in such a way and are of such clarity that they record only the flow and tail of vehicles and not drivers, while images are stored for a very short time.
It is noted that in the context of smart policing, with the use of technology, the Police has installed in 178 police vehicles, a mobile registration plate recognition system for motor vehicles.
