Police: there are not enough video surveillance cameras on the streets of Mykolaiv

Mykolaiv has one of the lowest indicators in terms of the number of video surveillance cameras installed on the streets. Currently, only 230 video surveillance cameras are installed in the city of half a million people.

Serhii Makhno, head of the police department in the Mykolaiv region, reported this during a briefing on December 29, NikVesti reports.

Serhii Makhno noted that the limited number of cameras makes it difficult to carry out various operational measures, such as searching for missing children, investigating cases of illegal possession of vehicles, establishing the causes and conditions of road accidents, as well as fighting street crime.

«Unfortunately, the city of Mykolaiv currently has one of the weakest «Safe City» programs. We have only 230 CCTV cameras for a city of half a million people. This is actually a very small number, which does not allow law enforcement officers and society to clearly control the security environment on the territory of the city,» said the law enforcement officer.

As you know, 32.4 million hryvnias will be allocated from the Mykolaiv budget in 2024 for the installation of video surveillance cameras under the «Safe City» program. It is predicted that the project will be 75% ready at the end of 2024.

According to Serhii Makhno, the local authorities plan to install about 350 new video surveillance cameras of various types. Among the main functions of these cameras will be the recognition of faces and car license plates.

We remind you that the general implementation period of the «Safe City» project began in 2020 and should end in 2025. During 2023-2025, it is planned to build four stages of the video surveillance system and equip 270 plots in different areas of the city:

• Next is the Central part of the city. 88 video surveillance areas will be set up there, on which 86 cameras for fixing car numbers and 52 surveillance cameras will be installed;

• II phase of construction — Kherson highway/Soliani. These are also 88 areas where 91 cameras for fixing state license plates and 38 surveillance cameras will be installed;

• III stage of construction — Pohranychna/Bohoiavlenskyi prospect, which will include 54 video surveillance sites with 97 state license plate recording cameras;

• Stage IV — Old Center/Cosmonauts: 40 video surveillance areas, where 93 state license plate recording cameras and 5 surveillance cameras will be installed.

The «Safe City» program provides a 24-hour display of the operational situation in real time. Video cameras provide video surveillance and recognition of front number plates, makes and models of vehicles for maximum safety efficiency at road junctions.

We would like to remind that in 2023 it was planned to complete the first stage of the implementation of the «Safe City» system, about 150 additional cameras will appear on the streets of two districts.

Earlier, the Mykolaiv City Council chose a company that will be engaged in the construction of «Safe City» video surveillance and analytics system for 67.4 million hryvnias. The mayor's office noted that they are now implementing the first step in the Tsentralnyi and Zavodskyi districts. Priority is given to the installation of number plate recording cameras.

As you know, the development budget of Mykolaiv, which is aimed at the implementation of city projects in various areas, will amount to about 347 million hryvnias in 2024.