Police push for 180 more CCTV cameras

PHUKET: After hailing as a success the installation of 48 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around the island, Phuket Provincial Police Superintendent of General Staff Pol Col Peerayut Karajedee on Friday announced that police are now looking to install 180 more public surveillance cameras.

At the monthly Governor Meets the Press meeting, Col Peerayut said that the 48 cameras installed in Phuket City, Kata-Karon and Patong at a cost of 16 million baht had proven useful in police work in the cameras’ first three months of operation.

“The CCTV system helps police in both crime suppression and prevention, as well as in traffic monitoring and control. Reports from the three control stations show that the CCTV has helped solve many criminal cases, including snatch-and-run thefts and acts involving bodily harm.

“We can follow the suspects and order the closest police officers to intercept them more easily. We can use the CCTV records as evidence in traffic cases, too,” he said.

However, Col Peerayut said that the current CCTV system has some minor faults. Sometimes images lack the resolution needed to make out car license plate numbers and better “zoom” functions could be added, he said.

“The main problem now is operating costs, especially electricity charges. Every CCTV camera needs electricity and air conditioners must operate 24 hours a day in each control room,” he said.

“We are now looking for help in covering these costs from local administrative bodies, which benefit directly from the CCTV system,” he added.

Phuket Vice-Governor Worapoj Ratthasima said that the second phase of CCTV system will be installed by the end of this year.

“We have identified 180 ‘risk areas’ in Phuket’s three districts where CCTV cameras should be installed. Local administrations now are preparing budgets for that and I will hold a meeting soon to discuss it further,” he said.

In addition to boosting coverage in Phuket City, Kata-Karon and Patong, cameras are expected to be set up in key areas of tambons Wichit and Rawai in Muang District as well as in Tah Chat Chai in Mai Khao, Thalang.

“We have also asked for the private sector, such as shopping centers, shops, housing estate developments and hotels, to install CCTV cameras [linked to the police system] so we can use them in case any crimes are committed in their areas. We have had a good response from them,” V/G Worapoj said.