Dear Editor,

OUR crime situation continues to haunt us, and many people are investing heavily to protect their properties and lives, or somewhat capture/warn or identify criminals using alarms and security cameras, among other things.Most people installing CCTV (security) cameras would install them at positions that make it impossible to identify someone, unless the person could be recognised by his/her physical structure; and in many cases, it’s impossible to so identify them.

People should not be fooled by what is shown in the CSI series. That technology is not available as yet to enhance bad footage, so to get a decent image the camera must be very close. It doesn’t matter if people could touch the cameras, because if they do they are being recorded. The standard recording for most dvr is 24 frames per second (fps). That is like taking 24 four photos in a second and playing it back, thus you get the videos; and depend on the setting of the dvr, you could record 30 fps, which is a far better quality. And when replaying, there are video editing programs available that could be used to scrutinize the videos properly, to get the best images.

Editor, there are many places that you could go to get different types of security systems to purchase, but the real shocker is when you query the prices. Believe it or not, these people are increasing the value of a security system by four times, and those installing it are charging a tremendous amount to install; and when you look at the way they install the system, you start to wonder what is the purpose for the cameras, because you could know that they wouldn’t get proper footage.

If this Government is serious about fighting crimes, its executives should get a mechanism in place to let citizens get security cameras at affordable rates, because the prices are jacked up tremendously. If almost everyone could install a security system, it would enhance the fight against crime greatly.

Take the recent crime committed against the M&M snackette. The robbers had on face masks to prevent people from identifying them, but I don’t believe they would walk from their homes with their faces blocked to commit a crime, and if they do that they would draw attention to themselves. I’m quite sure the police will be looking at nearby houses which have security cameras to see if they have footage of the criminals passing before/after they had committed the crime.

In order to help fight crime, let security systems be more easily obtainable, so that many people could get cameras and people could help one another.
Regards,
SAHADEO BATES