High-definition CCTV cameras installed in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY - The city government on Thursday installed more high definition security cameras in strategic spots to complement the joint crime prevention thrusts of the police and the military.

There has been a rash of gun attacks in recent months in the city, which is among the areas covered by North Cotabato.

Mayor Joseph Evangelista, presiding chairperson of the city peace and order council, said the city government spent P2 million for the new security cameras, which are linked to a centralized monitoring center.

“These new cameras augment the units previously installed in many sites,” Evangelista said.

Some of the new cameras were installed in selected spots along the stretch of the Cotabato-Davao Highway, which straddles through the heart of Kidapawan City and along busy streets traversing crime-prone areas.

Evangelista said the footage collected by the cameras will automatically be relayed to the monitoring center via a wireless transmission system.

Each of the cameras has memory cards that can be retrieved and processed by technicians whenever there are power outages, which can cause glitches in the wireless relay system.

The monitoring center for all of the old and new security cameras installed in the surroundings of the city operates round-the-clock and manned by monitors rendering eight-hour duties on rotational shifts.