According to Kuala Lumpur Mayor, more than 1,000 CCTV cameras have so far been installed in the city, with 300 of them being connected directly to the police.
KL Mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz was recently quoted as saying that there were already too many CCTV cameras in the city, exceeding the number available in Australia.
The Mayor said so far there were more than 1,000 CCTV cameras installed in KL city, with 300 of them being connected directly to the police.
The cameras were installed to help curb crime in the city, including the increasing number of snatch thefts that have happened.
How bad is the level of crime in KL, really?
According to the Crime Index 2016, KL ranks at number 21 out of 277 cities that were ranked based on surveys on public surveys, with a Crime Index of 70.36 and Safety Index of only 29.64. This puts the perception of crime in KL as worse than in Bangkok and Singapore, where the safety perception index scores are at 50.94 and 83.51, respectively. It is, however, important to note that the index purely measures perception among 400-500 online contributors, rather than hard statistics. According to hard data, which include the commonly-used homicide figure per 100,000 inhabitants, KL is nowhere near the list of the top 50 most dangerous cities in the world.
With that many CCTVs already installed in KL though, DBKL will not be increasing their number. It will instead be focusing on improving the existing infrastructure around Kuala Lumpur to curb crimes such as snatch thefts. This includes putting up street lights, lighting up dark places, putting up mirrors and constructing dividers and all this will be done in cooperation with the police and the department of urban planning.
DBKL’s efforts mirror what is being implemented in TRX, where creating a safe and secure environment is one of the primary objectives. It starts with basic urban design, combining surveillance and preventative measures with a more natural design approach in its streetscapes. This brings about natural surveillance, removing dead corners and nooks to facilitate security.
Note: Crime Index is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country. Crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high. Safety index is, on the other way, quite opposite of crime index. If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe.
