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Building safer cities before smart cities

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 22 Aug 2016
The SAPS and private security companies are sitting with data bases of information that should be shared across agencies, says XON's Carel Coetzee.
The SAPS and private security companies are sitting with data bases of information that should be shared across agencies, says XON's Carel Coetzee.

The lines between physical security and cyber security are becoming very blurry. We need to find innovative ways to capitalise on the rapidly accelerating change in technology to make South Africa's cities safer for us all.

This was the word from Carel Coetzee, CEO of XON, speaking at the XON and NEC "Bringing Tomorrow to Africa Today" summit held in Limpopo last week. Coetzee explained if we want to make Africa a better place for all, we need to create safe cities before we create smart cities. "The collaboration of the public sectors, the city metros, SAPS and private security organisations to create connected systems at a security level, is fundamental to this safety, in order to enhance smart city security in SA.

"At the moment we are not sharing information across the various sectors. The SAPS and large private security companies are sitting with large databases of information such as files of wanted criminals, who are wandering the streets because only a small group of people are aware that they are wanted," he noted.

What if we use the mugshot databases from the SAPS systems and enhance those services to make this information available to other sectors and beef up the cities' security? he asked.

XON has created software called NeoFace Watch, a security platform built for utilising intelligence for CCTV cameras, added Coetzee. The software is equipped with real-time configuration tools and monitoring utilities, offline video face search and high-volume photo face search using facial biometrics.

"We are currently in various phases of discussion and potential pilot projects with several metros in SA, to utilise the existing CCTV surveillance and communication infrastructure in the cities and add intelligence onto it, in order to create a safer environment," he revealed.

NeoFace Watch, he continued, adds facial recognition software to existing CCTV infrastructure through its Web service APIs to hunt down wanted criminals. This software can be used in airports, cities and public areas where algorithms are able to identify wanted persons' faces, even if they have undergone facial reconstructive surgery or are disguised.

"Through the technology, we also want to deploy sensors monitoring the roads for car accidents and look for suspicious incidents within cities. We take live feeds from already existing CCTV cameras and interface these with our software platform where we've set the parameters for the different types of scenes. If anything moves outside of the parameters, the program creates an alert which is sent to the control rooms.

"This will also enable us to effectively manage and monitor public resources, optimise our security forces and emergency vehicles so that we track where the vehicles are at any given moment, and efficiently deploy the required vehicles during crime or emergency scenes," he pointed out.

This system will encourage inter-agency collaboration through getting the various metros talking to private security companies and sharing important information with SAPS. It has already been installed at various malls and other public places across the country, he continued.

"In the near future, the software will be integrated with water leakage detection sensors and dustbin sensors, which will provide information about the type of rubbish inside each bin and identify water leakages in the cities, before they happen," concluded Coetzee.

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