‘Every Territorian deserves to feel safe and CCTV plays an important role in deterring and solving crimes’: CCTV cameras quadruple since 2016
THE number of CCTV cameras in the Territory has more than quadrupled since 2016
Police & Courts
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THE number of Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) cameras in the Territory has more than quadrupled in the past five years from 193 cameras to more than 831.
The cameras have been installed across the NT at various locations, including throughout city centres and crime hot spots.
The cameras are designed to deter crime and help police officers solve crimes.
NT Police Minister Nicole Manison said the cameras were placed at areas of high public use as part of the government’s CCTV program.
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“Every Territorian deserves to feel safe and CCTV plays an important role in deterring and solving crimes,” Ms Manison said. “We are investing in more police and a broad range of measures to make the Territory safer, these include a record police budget, more police on the frontline and expanding our CCTV network.” In total there are 533 police cameras and 298 cameras from other agencies, such as the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, across the NT.
Civil Liberties Australia chief executive Bill Rowlings said CCTV cameras provided a false sense of security for the public.
“The problem is they give off a false promise of security, they need to be used with community support and the community needs to be involved in setting them up,” Mr Rowlings said.
He said the sheer number of cameras raised questions around privacy.
“If we develop into a surveillance society no one can get privacy anywhere. At the rate these cameras are breeding you would expect there to be thousands in a decade,” he said.
Acting Superintendent Drew Slape said CCTV was a valuable tool for police.
“The NT CCTV system is an efficient, effective detection and investigative tool that has both solved and prevented crime and anti-social behaviour,” he said.
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“The CCTV Unit has been integral to policing strategies around anti-social behaviour and associated violence by monitoring, assessing and facilitating a response in a timely manner.”
The Territory government had 19 new CCTV cameras installed at the Karama Plaza in February of last year while in 2019, Darwin Council installed more than 100 cameras in the CBD and Esplanade as part of its Smart Cities project.
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