The government is planning to link surveillance cameras with the National Registration Bureau database in a move aimed at helping police identify crime suspects more quickly.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the planned system will allow security agencies to match images captured by CCTV cameras with photographs stored in official government records, including national ID data.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Monday night, Murkomen said the technology is part of ongoing efforts to modernise crime detection and strengthen the country’s security infrastructure.
According to the CS, one of the biggest challenges facing investigators today is the inability to automatically identify suspects captured on surveillance footage.
In many cases, police are forced to manually review CCTV recordings before releasing images of suspects to the public in the hope that members of the public can help identify them.
“We do not have a database with facial recognition technology that already has the facial recognition for Kenyans, where you merge the faces you get from the cameras to the database to establish the credentials of an individual,” Murkomen said.
He explained that the government intends to integrate the technology into the Integrated Command, Control and Communication Centre (IC3), which is currently being upgraded.
Once operational, the system is expected to enable investigators to compare images obtained from surveillance cameras against records held by the government, potentially shortening the time taken to identify suspects involved in criminal activities.
“Once we establish this technology, we will slowly build in the data of various people based on information in the ID. Police will now be able to use the faces of Kenyans with their pictures in the official data,” the CS added.
The revelations come as the government prepares to roll out an expanded CCTV surveillance programme in major urban centres across the country.
Murkomen recently announced plans to install surveillance cameras in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret and Nyeri as part of a wider strategy to enhance public safety and combat crime.
As per Interior Ministry, the procurement process of this technology has reached its final stage and is expected to be completed within the next two months.
The total cost of installation of this project could go up to Ksh25 billion.
Nairobi happens to be one of the cities which are expected to benefit first after completion of this procurement process with implementation expected to take place within the next three to six months.
The deployment of the cameras will most probably cause debates in relation to privacy and data protection due to use of facial recognition technology in this project.
However, in an attempt to clear such doubts, Murkomen assured everybody that the surveillance cameras would be installed in public places but not in any private property including hotels, residential houses and other restricted areas.