District Governance: Cameras Boost Security

Whether at busy intersections or tranquil street corners, Hong Kong has silent sentinels safeguarding citizens.

Through the SmartView initiative, the Police Force has to date installed more than 4,500 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in public places with high crime rates and pedestrian flows, aiding crime prevention and detection.

Since its launch, SmartView has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness, assisting the force in detecting more than 480 criminal cases and leading to the arrests of more than 840 individuals.

Emergency relief

Besides combating crime, SmartView has been invaluable during typhoons and extreme weather conditions.

It provides real-time monitoring of high-risk locations such as areas vulnerable to flooding and public transport interchanges, allowing Police to put precautionary arrangements in place.  

For example, during the recent Super Typhoon Ragasa, Police closely monitored the storm’s impact on the city from their Command & Control Centre, located at Wan Chai Police Headquarters.

Operations Wing Senior Superintendent of Police Leung Ming-leung explained that during the post-typhoon recovery phase, Police used SmartView’s cameras to assess the road conditions on major routes and at public transport hubs. This enabled them to quickly deploy personnel and resources, helping the community restore normalcy as swiftly as possible.

“We also shared the SmartView video feeds with the Drainage Services Department to assist them in monitoring flooding conditions in the city,” he added.

The force hopes that as SmartView continues to develop and improve, footage can be shared with other government departments at times of need in the future.

Enhancing efficiency

In addition, the force is committed to leveraging other innovations to enhance the efficiency of SmartView. This includes introducing automatic number plate recognition technology in July.

This new function has strengthened the force's capabilities in dealing with suspicious and wanted vehicles.

SmartView also supports people-counting technology, which employs a large language model to provide precise estimates. Police have deployed this function at multiple large-scale events, including the recent National Day fireworks display, where it was found to be highly effective.

Expanding coverage

As a city-wide initiative under the steer of the Task Force on District Governance, SmartView cameras are mainly installed on lampposts, smart lampposts and government buildings. Starting from late July this year, the force has also mounted cameras on Police vehicles as mobile CCTV units.

The force is now looking to expand its range of installation platforms, and will install the first traffic light-mounted camera before the end of this year.

To further enhance the efficiency and coverage of SmartView, it also plans to gradually integrate CCTV cameras installed by other government departments and public organisations, such as those at the Kai Tak Sports Park.

To date, over 5,000 such cameras have been connected to SmartView.

In terms of collaboration with other departments, the force's target for this year is to integrate cameras from 10 public housing estates managed by the Housing Department, three cross-harbour tunnels managed by the Transport Department, seven venues related to the National Games that are managed by the Leisure & Cultural Services Department, and four immigration control points.