By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The sister city to Rio de Janeiro across the bay, Niterói, has gained a new Centro Integrado de Segurança Pública (Integrated Center of Public Security, or CISP) in the neighborhood of Piratininga according to government sources. The CISP is intended to integrate federal, state and local security forces and feature 600 cameras by the end of the year, which will monitor the city 24 hours a day.
Governor Luiz Fernando “Pezão” (Bigfoot) and the Mayor of Niterói, Rodrigo Neves, inaugurated the CISP on Monday (August 10th). The implementation of surveillance systems with cameras to fight crime has been increasingly used by Fluminense municipalities, in partnership with the federal and Rio state governments.
The center will be welcome news in the crime beleaguered city, as understaffed police stations have been a problem in Niterói for some time. In 1970 there were 3,200 active duty Military Police officers in the city; in April 2012 there were only 800, although the population increased by fifty percent in the same period.
Yesterday Governor Pezão said, “It is important that the state has this kind of equipment that we are launching in Niterói. We have made partnerships in public safety with municipalities and we are seeing the results in Três Rios and Volta Redonda, cities that have implemented this tool, which enables a tight integration with the military and civil police and other security forces. This has helped to reduce homicide rates, carjackings and theft from people on the streets.”
The latest technology of Niterói also includes eighty alert buttons installed in schools, the ferry station, universities and other points considered strategic for the quick actions of the city’s security forces. Of the 600 planned cameras, 200 have so far been set up to monitor the city. Fifty cameras will be “intelligent”, identifying license plates entering or circulating the city, through the five portals also placed at points of interest to public safety in the city.
“If it weren’t for this joint effort of the City Hall with the federal and state governments, we could not do what we are doing. Today is a historic day. The CISP is a strategic tool for the police force. With it, we will work towards prevention and reduction of crimes,” said the mayor Rodrigo Neves.
Military Police and Municipal Guard car units in Niterói will also now have trackers with geo-referencing equipment in order to respond and reach crime scenes faster. Through the camera, ongoing events or suspicions of wrongdoing will be captured immediately by sending the signal to the vehicle that is closest. The project received investments of R$20 million, of which R$3 million came from the federal government.