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Opinionista

It’s time to get smart in the battle against rampant crime

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Ralph Clark is president and CEO of ShotSpotter Inc.

Smart technologies, like gunshot detection, help police build a composite picture of a crime scene – allowing them to deploy their resources more efficiently and effectively.

Has the time not arrived to build a new smart city founded on the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?” President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke these words as he delivered a forward-looking, optimistic State of the Nation Address in June. The speech was peppered with references to futuristic technology and progress, offering a stark contrast to the daily realities currently faced by many South Africans.

In the same speech, the President committed to halving, if not eradicating, violent crime in the next decade. One of the many solutions he proposed was a promise to increase the number of police officers in training by 2020. He pledged to improve the effectiveness of the judicial system in prosecuting offenders and outlined formal strategies to deal with drugs and gender-based violence.

But surprisingly, in a speech with a focus on the future, he did not offer any thoughts about applying smart-city technologies in the fight against crime.

One can imagine how disappointed he must have been, as we all were, when the country’s annual crime statistics were released recently. They showed the number of murders had increased by 3.4%, attempted murders by 4.1% and violent robbery by 1.2%. Fifty-eight people are now killed in South Africa every day.

Given the budget squeeze, the national government faces, exclusively flooding the streets with an army of police officers is not a viable option. And applying the same strategies repeatedly while expecting a different result seems futile in the face of seemingly endless violence.

Chairperson of parliament’s portfolio committee on police, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, acknowledged this when she recently proposed a relook at South Africa’s policing.

The committee views it as unacceptable that every year there is a general increase on crime, yet there are no strident and cutting-edge strategies in place to fight crime,” she explained.

The truth is that cutting-edge strategies to fight crime are available and ready to be implemented. Technology has the power to amplify traditional policing resources and cut down on wasted efforts – especially technology that leverages real-time data, which is the new currency in improving productivity and effectiveness.

New developments such as intelligent camera systems and gunshot-detection sensors augment existing policing resources by narrowing down the location and identifying the perpetrators of crimes as they occur. Such a case was successfully prosecuted in Cape Town in 2018 when a gang member fired a gun and assumed he would escape arrest by changing clothing and disposing of his firearm. Fortunately, a combination of gunshot detection and CCTV systems located and followed him in real-time as he did so – ensuring a speedy arrest and successful conviction.

Smart crime-fighting technologies also offer the potential to save money in a fiscally constrained environment. Gunshot detection technology, for example, helps the police build a composite picture of where shots are fired and at what time. This enables police to deploy resources efficiently and effectively to prevent gun crime before it happens.

In South Africa, where so many officers themselves fall prey to violent crime, it is crucial police officers know what they are walking into when a crime is reported. If police personnel have a better understanding of the exact situation on the ground, they can respond more accurately, safely and quickly to violent incidents.

This week, in the run-up to World Rhino Day, we announced the deployment of ShotSpotter gun detection technology in the Kruger National Park to combat rhino poaching. Given the precarious position of the rhino population, the announcement has been received very positively.

But while rhinos are important, so too are the people of South Africa. People deserve to be protected from violent crime as they pursue their ambitions and possibilities.

As the President said in June, we need to work together to fight crime. It is my hope that these kinds of technologies will be positively embraced by governments across South Africa. DM

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