Installation of CCTV cameras starts in Gulu

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The installation of Closed Circuit Television – CCTV surveillance security cameras have started in Gulu Municipality. The cameras are intended to help police curb down the growing crime.

In September 2019, a team of security experts from the Police Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) conducted a feasibility study and identified several spots from where to mount the cameras.

Already eight cameras have been mounted pending operationalization in prime locations that include; Gulu Central Police Station, Cemetery Road, along Gulu-Kampala highway, Lacor Trading Centre and Gulu-Juba highway.

Other prime spots are Gulu Public Primary School near the main mosque, St. Joseph’s College Layibi and Boma ground, open space behind Acholi Inn Hotel – adjacent to the office of Gulu Resident District Commissioner.

Speaking to URN on Monday during an interview, Patrick Jimmy Okema the Aswa river region police spokesperson revealed that the installations will include Automatic Number Plate (ANP) cameras to track stolen motor vehicles.

Okema further disclosed that police will soon engage local leaders, the public and other relevant stakeholders for awareness creation to enable the public own the initiative and guard the installations.

However, some residents have expressed mixed reactions about the effectiveness of the cameras given the sophisticated methods currently being employed by criminals.

As a post-war town, Gulu and neighbouring Kitgum Municipality continue to experience unprecedented incidences of violent crimes like, iron bar hit-men and motorcycle thieves who have been threatening the security and safety of residents.

The government first planned to install CCTV cameras in 2013 but the idea was implemented in 2015 and 2016 following the assassination of prominent Ugandans including high-ranking security officers and Muslim clerics.

In Kampala Metropolitan areas of Entebbe, Mukono and Wakiso districts, police have already installed over 2,500 surveillance security cameras in the wake of deadly crimes in the city and its suburbs.

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