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FAULTY mechanics in the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera system dotted across the Woodstock police's precinct is Metro Police's reason for the fact that a number of cameras failed to monitor crime over the festive season.

The recent murder of alleged Ju?nior Mafias gang member Raqueeb "Ricky" Oakers in front of Observatory club Barmooda on 11 January was only one of the shootings the cameras failed to capture, Woodstock police confirm.

As of April last year, 30 CCTV cameras have watched over the streets and lanes of Woodstock, Salt River and Observatory in a bid to improve safety. The hi-tech came?ras have been placed at strategic points based on crime trends, and the footage is meant to be viewed on a 24-hour basis at a control room in the city centre. The project, which cost the City of Cape Town R6 million to implement, is headed up by a specialised division of the Metro Police to monitor criminal activity.

But last week Superintendent Riaan Redelinghys, Woodstock police interim station commissioner, said investigating officers had experienced difficulty in accessing visuals from certain cameras in the area from mid-December to early January.

Metro Police confirm a technical failure caused one third of all the footage from 23 December to 7 January to be lost. Redelinghys says during this period, detectives could not retrieve any visuals to help solve crimes.

"To my knowledge the station was not informed that the cameras were not working at the time," he says.

Kevin Maxwell, Metro Police director of communications, says the South African Police Service (SAPS) was informed of the problem, but "as usual, they are are blaming CCTV if they cannot solve their cases".

He says the radio equipment transmitting the images had broken down and the suppliers were closed during the festive season. Redelinghys agrees the installation of cameras has served as an all-important tool to police the area more effectively: "The cameras help in proactive and reactive policing. Investigating officers can access the visuals to pin-point criminals at the scene of a crime and our officers can be informed should they notice a crime occurring."

Metro Police statistics reveal that since installation up until 31 December, a total of 595 criminal incidents had been observed on Woodstock precinct cameras, yielding 51 arrests.

But JP Smith, chairperson of the Good Hope Subcouncil, says inoperative cameras are not unheard of. Several cameras in Sea Point were off-line for close to the whole of 2007.

"We were promised and promised the cameras would be fixed. Essentially we were told to blame the contractor used to maintain the came?ras. Eventually an investigation was called for, and it was sorted out. The CCTV project has not been brilliantly handled," says Smith, adding there had even been discussions with provincial authorities to have coordination of the project shifted from the Metro Police to the SAPS.

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