Coronavirus: Mauritius PM says Safe City camera is a must to ensure public safety, security

05 Août 2020

Port Louis, Mauritius,  August 5  (Infosplusgabon) – Mauritian Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, on Tuesday night told Parliament that wearing of protective masks to protect the population from COVID-19 is vital while the Safe City camera "is a must" to ensure public safety and security, we learnt from parliamentary sources.

Replying to a Private Notice Question from the leader of the opposition, Arvind Boolell, he said with the outbreak of the COCVID-19 pandemic, Mauritius like other countries in the world, is faced with an unprecedented situation and it was vital and expedient to take appropriate sanitary measures to protect the population.

“The wearing of face masks has not, per se, impacted on the effectiveness of policing operations as the Safe City cameras are being used for the prevention and detection of crimes based on live information on the ground, management of traffic and prompt response to public requests and emergencies,” Mr Jugnauth emphasised.

However, he added, “it may partially impact on the identification of suspects regarding facial recognition”.

“Nevertheless, the footages are still useful during police investigation as besides facial identification, there are other features and details which can be retrieved that can assist the Police in identifying the suspects though they are wearing protective face masks,” the Prime Minister indicated.

According to him, identification evidence is not obtained exclusively by facial recognition.

“If such evidence is of a poor quality, the Police has recourse to other modes of identification through: victims/witnesses; samples (for example: urine, blood, saliva, vaginal fluid, hair or hairs, semen); fingerprints and footprints identification; use of tracker dogs; electronically fit photo; and, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA),” he highlighted.

Speaking about the Safe City cameras, Mr Jugnauth said that these are equipped with necessary attributes which can provide adequate information for the identification of suspects even if they are wearing protective masks. These attributes include the high definition footages, infrared and Pan, Tilt, Zoom (PTZ) cameras.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/PLM/GABON2020

© Copyright  Infosplusgabon