Kenya Police to deploy Safaricom’s surveillance system to boost security

The Government of Kenya has awarded a $140.65m contract to Safaricom for its Integrated Public Safety Communication and Surveillance System, in a bid to assist the Kenya Police to fight crime and terrorism, while boosting security.

Anticipated to revolutionise the way the Kenya Police battle crime, the new technology integrates video surveillance, video conferencing system, digital radios, central command for the communication system and a mapping system.

As part of the first phase of the project, about 7600 policemen across 195 police stations in Nairobi and Mombasa will be offered with multimedia radio communication that can transmit video and images to the control centre from the field and receive real time data on suspects via high speed internet.

Featuring 1,800 surveillance cameras installed around the two cities, the new system will use an independent 4G network to avoid network interruptions, with police stations able to access the system through internet.

The street surveillance cameras, deployed across the cities will be able to detect vehicle licence plates, while the infrared cameras will be deployed in dark alleys and tunnels.

The project, involving deployment of similar systems used by London Police, is expected to be completed within the following 18-24 months.