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During a site visit to the ICC on April 12, the centre manager, David Phelan, said that after hosting a summit with the municipality to find methods to make Kouga safe, the centre was established approximately two years ago.
He said that the ICC operates 24/7, with eight employees working on a shift basis to ensure that the screens are always monitored.
Despite having access to 400 cameras throughout the Kouga region, Phelan said they mainly monitor hot spot areas.
Phelan said,
In addition to monitoring the CCTV cameras, the centre is also connected to various WhatsApp groups throughout the province, and the URSafe SA app designed to alert the centre when users are in danger.
Phelan said the ICC has assisted in getting the necessary information to the South African Police Services, and the recovery of R5 million worth of goods from abalone poaching, card scamming, shoplifting, and vehicle theft.
He further said that through the ICC they were able to assist in the speedy arrest of the four suspects allegedly involved in the shooting of Alexander, who was shot in broad daylight outside Kouga Municipality’s main building in Jeffreys Bay.
“After the WhatsApp groups were alerted of the shooting, the suspects were arrested within minutes of the shooting incident. We are very proud of our assistance in getting the suspects arrested,” said Phelan.
In addition, since they have access to the cameras placed at the Van Staden’s Bridge, an area well-known for suicide attempts, he said that they have assisted in the prevention of six suicides over the last two years.
After establishing the ICC at a cost of R1 million over two years, Phelan said that their current office is too small, and they plan to expand soon, which will enable them to purchase fibre optics, more cameras, and employ more staff.
Despite placing a large emphasis on the positive impact of the ICC, he said they do not fight crime alone.
“We cannot take all the credit, because we work in partnership with various stakeholders,” said Phelan.
Andrew Whitfield, Democratic Alliance MP and Eastern Cape provincial leader, said that Kouga’s adopted Community Safety Plan entails a whole-of-society approach, working in collaboration with stakeholders such as the SAPS, agricultural and civic rights organisations, municipal departments, emergency services, the NSRI, private security companies, businesses, schools, and charities.
“The 35 licence plate recognition cameras that have been installed have also been instrumental in assisting the police to monitor known criminals, and have led to the confiscation of almost R1 million value in illegal abalone, and countless arrests,” said Whitfield.
Kouga executive mayor, Hattingh Bornman, said safety and security are very important within the municipality as it directly impacts tourism and the economy.
To continue working towards decreasing crime in the region, he said that over the next financial year they plan to invest R2.5 million towards the ICC.
Thankfully, he said they have received a great deal of support from various stakeholders who have seen the positive results the centre has yielded.
“We have received a lot of buy-in from local safety and security stakeholders, which speaks of the wonderful collaboration within Kouga,” said Bornman.
Stuart Riddle, director of URSafe SA, said the personal safety application spans as wide as 200 territories throughout the world, and can be downloaded on mobile devices using the App Store or Google Play.
He said that the application offers various video and audio safety features.
“There are various features on the application, which range from crash and fall detection, personal safe word, and sharing of location,” said Riddle.
He further said that those staying in the Kouga region can link the application from their device to the ICC by adding 078 738 0910 as an emergency contact number within the application.
For users not staying in the Kouga region, he has advised them to add their preferred emergency contact numbers on the application.
“Once the application has been activated, the ICC or the user’s emergency contacts will be notified of their live location and they will have access to their audio and video,” said Riddle.
He further said the application has a free-to-use option; however there is a premiere version with advanced features that requires the user to pay a monthly fee.
In addition, Riddle said that to make use of the application the user needs to be connected to mobile internet data or Wi-Fi.
