Last March 13, a Dumaguete resident reported to me that his two-month old Innova parked at about 4pm for a few minutes at the tempurahan along the boulevard was maliciously scratched and dented. I saw personally the deplorable condition of the vehicle that was scratched with a sharp and pointed object. He was so sad about it, and I sympathized with him.
Although he wanted so much to make a “case” out of it, he knows there is nothing much he can do because after all, he wasn’t there when it happened, nobody saw who the perpetrators were, and there were no witnesses to corroborate his report. Thus, all he could do was hope that someday these people will be caught.
Upon hearing his story, I remembered a movie in 2015 titled Eye in the Sky. The film featured the implications of modern warfare and how satellite cameras can help greatly in solving crimes and in facilitating difficult combat and intelligence-gathering missions.
Actually, after he told me what happened to his car and after hearing of other people’s stories about similar incidents, I wasn’t really thinking of satellite cameras but simply of CCTV cams to serve as our “eyes” in the streets, inside banks, financial institutions, government and private offices, in the parks, and inside malls.
I strongly believe that the city needs to have surveillance cameras, especially in public places (such as parking lots) to ensure public safety and security of personal property. I also believe that seldom would anyone attempt to harm us or our property if they know that their actions are being recorded on camera. With surveillance cameras, police authorities and intelligence-gathering personnel can easily prevent crimes from taking place or can rapidly solve criminal cases using material evidence.
During the administration of former Mayor, now 2nd District Cong. Manuel Sagarbarria, there were plans of installing these cameras around the main thoroughfares of Dumaguete City where most activities are being held, such as along the Rizal Boulevard.
Last year, there was another talk of installing more than 350 units of closed circuit television cameras to be installed in strategic places within the City. The fund allocation for such project was P70 million. Part of the project will be the establishment of one or two CCTV cameras in all the housing projects of the city for the safety of residents. We also learned that the high-tech CCTV technology will have an infra-red feature so offenders can still be identified even if the crimes are committed in the evening.
It was planned that the more than 350 CCTV cameras will be installed in 110 locations with yearly allocations until all the 30 barangays are fitted with the monitoring system.
But where are these cameras now? Regrettably until today, the idea has remained a dream.
If surveillance cameras can only be installed in the city, then we wouldn’t have these wrongs committed against our persons and property.
We have to remember that a surveillance camera can operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without any kind of break — toilet, smoking, or lunch. It doesn’t need a holiday, a maternity leave and rarely goes sick.
Let’s have “eyes in the sky” in Dumaguete and fight crime. Let us now have the CCTV in our streets before the City’s crime rates will soar high in the sky.
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Author’s email: wea_129@yahoo.com
