THE Lautoka Residents and Ratepayers Association has called for the fast tracking of the CCTV cameras installation project in Lautoka.
President Narayan Reddy said the festive season was the peak period for criminal activities in Lautoka, and yet the project earmarked for hotspot areas, “remains in the pipleline till today”.
The project was initially mooted by former Lautoka City Council CEO Mohammed Anees Khan, who made the announcement while presenting the council’s 2015-2017 annual reports to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs in November last year.
Mr Reddy said CCTV cameras installed earlier were destroyed during Tropical Cyclone Winston.
“After Winston they took it off and then nothing was done,” he said.
” There was a lot of talk about getting those cameras back online, reinstalling them, but until today, nothing has happened.”
Mr Reddy said there seemed to be more discussion on setting up the cameras through the city.
“If we have the CCTV cameras, most of the crimes will be solved, like the pickpocketing, all those drug trafficking near the corner shops.”
Mr Reddy said it has come to a point where drug peddlers are openly approaching members of the public selling illicit substances.
“So, hopefully the money comes up for those things, and we can get the CCTV cameras back because once November, December starts, a lot of illegal activities are going to go on.”
Mr Reddy said members of the public could also provide footage from their own smart phones to the police.
“Most people will say we don’t want to get involved with the police because we can’t trust them. So, the police need to get that trust back from the public.”
Mr Reddy said at times, members of the public were targeted for tipping off the police off.
Lautoka Board of Special Administrators chairperson Taitusi Rasoki said the project was still at its discussion stage pending implementation.
He said following Mr Khan’s resignation, two other people spearheading the project also resigned.
“We sat with the police discussing this issue in 2024 because the council will have to work with the law enforcement agency regarding the criminal elements,” he said.
“We need the police and we told them the importance of putting up cameras in hot spot areas. So, we came to an understanding that we should be giving information to each other.”
Police spokesperson Wame Bautolu said these hot spots are within the city boundary and police will be able to comment after the cameras are installed.
