Kidnappings, killings and why CCTV cameras may not be the solution

Recently the Security minister, Gen Elly Tumwine, made some remarks blaming the love of “easy money” for the rise in crime, kidnappings and murders in the country.

Interestingly, the comments left many people wondering about the love of money from whom, since the purported criminals remain at large and unidentified. Many people are concerned about the unknown and mysterious identities of the criminals involved in planning and executing the new trend of crime.

The General’s remarks come at a time when security in the country is strained with numerous kidnappings and mysterious murders. Many people have been left bewildered with fear slowly gripping the country.
Government has responded by urgently looking for money to procure close circuit television (CCTV) cameras. It is rumoured that the ruling NRM government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Algerian National Police to oversee the installation of CCTV cameras countrywide.

The cost of the CCTV cameras is overwhelming at Shs203 billion. As always with prevailing corruption in Uganda, many people are doubtful if the CCTV cameras will stop the kidnappings and murders, not to mention inevitable failure of accountability for the large sums of money stacked up for purchasing the spy cameras.

In Europe the effectiveness of the CCTV cameras has already raised several doubts. There are concerns and questions of invasion of privacy; anxiety over civil liberties and claims that the CCTV camera’s sophisticated identification capabilities is increasingly leading to mistaken identities, thereby resulting in the arrest of the wrong people.

In the United Kingdom (UK) 2018 report published by Big Brother Watch, it warns that automated facial recognition cameras, facial recognition technology, biometric identification checkpoints is turning innocent British citizens into “walking ID cards” and police attempts to use cameras linking databases to recognise people’s faces are failing nine times out of 10.
According to the report British Metropolitan Police used facial recognition at the 2017 Notting Hill carnival, where the system was wrong 98 per cent of the time, falsely alerting police officers on 102 occasions when it had spotted suspects to be arrested, only to find they had in fact stopped innocent people and the identifications were false. The surprising and unexpected report findings understandably are extremely disappointing for the British public, after a pricey £2.1 million (about Shs10 billion) technology and security investment by the Home Office.

Meanwhile, with less superior technology in telecommunication in comparison to complex CCTV spy cameras, Uganda police chief in view of the unrelenting murders and kidnappers in the country could not explain before the Human Rights Committee of Parliament chaired by Safia Nalule (NRM-PWD) how kidnappers are still able to use active SIM cards to demand ransoms from the relatives of victims.

Although it is unknown when the CCTV cameras will be installed countrywide, it is difficult to see how exactly the sophisticated spy cameras will help Uganda police stop the current murders and kidnappings.
The pearl of Africa’s security is uncertain and loosely hanging in the balance with increasing crime, expensive investments and a possibly not-so-perfect solution in CCTV cameras. With all this, the end to our insecurity seems a far away dream.