The local executive is seeking European funding, while the socialists are asking for an end to payments for unused cameras
The municipal network of video surveillance cameras needs a complete overhaul. The breakdowns, together with the age of the current technology, have forced the Council to take the first steps to ensure this improvement. The departments of Innovation, Police and European Funds have set to work to try to create, with the help of several universities, the presentation of a project capable of attracting funds from Brussels.
The PSOE highlighted the problems with the camera system in the last plenary session, after receiving an alert from some members of the State Security Forces and Corps. According to the socialist councillor David Villanueva, when it was first installed 14 years ago, the system they use, Viriato, represented the latest technology but now it has been overtaken by many other models that incorporate, for example, a license plate reader and facial identification.
Police Councillor Federico Alarcón explained that the Council not only takes into account that the cameras have become obsolete, but also that they are too few and that, in order to upgrade to a modern system, the Council has applied to the European Urban Initiatives programme. He said, they will have support from the University of Alicante and the Polytechnic University of Valencia, with which they hope to greatly increase the current network.
Until that happens, the council will still instal the planned cameras in the Casa Grande industrial estate, where business owners requested the service to prevent robberies and assaults. The installation was awarded in June, and has a subsidy from the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness worth 281,592 euros.
Currently, the cameras that the City Council has are in municipal buildings. In total, there are 53, of which 40 are operational and the rest require replacement due to their deterioration. The buildings with the most video surveillance are the racket area of the Sports City (with eight operational cameras) and La Plasa (with 7 of 8 operational cameras).
There is also remote surveillance in the Town Hall, the Music Palace, the Municipal Library, the cemetery, the Tourist Office, the Local Police Headquarters, Urban Planning, the Census office and the museums.
