The Taipei City Government will install 11,500 surveillance cameras around the city by the end of the year to increase public safety measures, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday.
The city government has budgeted NT$160 million (US$5 million) to install the cameras. The system will be installed throughout 12 municipal districts and at major crime hotspots, including convenience stores, banks, jewelry shops and financial institutions.
“Surveillance cameras are great tools for preventing crime because they allow us to know robbers’ whereabouts when they reconnoiter the locations [of intended robberies],” Hau said at Taipei City Hall yesterday.
Hau said he was determined to implement his “zero tolerance for crime” policy and said the cameras would give the public a sense of security, in addition to discouraging criminal behavior.
The eagerness of the city government to install cameras came after recent robberies at the Taipei 101 Mall and at jewelry stores. The Taipei City Police Department said there were six major robberies in Taipei last year, of which three happened in jewelry stores.
Hau gave awards to police officers who solved the six major crimes and a mechanic who helped police stop a criminal in a jewelry store robbery last month. He also urged the public to work with the police to combat crime.
Lee Kuei-tang (李魁堂), who was passing by one of the jewelry stores when a robber rushed out, tripped the robber with a ladder. Police later caught two accomplices and solved the crime within a week.
Taipei City Police Commissioner Hsieh Hsiu-neng (謝秀能) said the department would also increase patrols at banks and jewelry shops to prevent crimes at such locations.
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