The Lagos State Government has started a pilot operation of mobile surveillance cameras under plans to rid Nigeria’s commercial hub of crime.
The Rapid Response Squad (RRS), an arm of the Lagos State Police Command, says the CCTV (closed-circuit television) camera on wheels has also recorded its first success when it led to the arrest of a suspected pick pocket in Oshodi.
According to the Police, luck ran out for the suspect while the mobile CCTV was deployed at Oshodi to monitor the area.
The surveillance patrol team was test running and putting into use the mobile surveillance technology, when it recorded its first success with the arrest at Oshodi.
Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP Olarinde Famous Cole, who confirmed the arrest in a statement says the suspect Emmanuel Alowonle, 18-year old, a native of Ondo State, disclosed during interrogation that he came to Lagos about two years ago and work as a bus conductor in the area.
Alowonle was arrested after allegedly stealing from another commuter handbag on the pedestrian walk way and was sighted by the mobile CCTV camera, which was parading Oshodi when he was in the crowd picking from a passer-by handbag, the Police says.
Cole, who says that there would be no hiding place for those who come to Lagos to perpetrate crime as “the police would fish them out of your hiding” also says the suspect has been charged and handed over to the security task force for further investigation.
The new anti-crime mobile CCTV camera was jointly managed and put into use by both the RRS operatives and technical assistance by the Lagos State Response Unit, (LRU), according to the Police.
Under the plan, the emergency management parastatal of the Lagos State Government handled the technical aspects of the camera while men of the RRS took charge of the security aspect of the newly-deployed security technology.
Lagos State Government says the mobile CCTV will help security operatives in close monitoring and wider view of Lagos crime-prone areas and also enhances prompt detective ability of security men in the state.
Home