FAQ - Safe City

Got questions?

All you need to know about our SafeCity Initiative.

What is SafeCity?

What is the link between SafeCity, E2 and the Fusion Centre?

Do all security companies have access to SafeCity?

What is the difference between a security company with access to SafeCity and without?

How does SafeCity Work?

How many cameras are there?

How do you identify suspicious activity?

How do you identify suspicious vehicles?

How do I get assistance from SafeCity if I have been a victim of a crime?

How about my privacy?

How does Vumacam and SafeCity protect my privacy?

Can someone spy on me?

How do you protect against abuse of the system?

Do Vumacam’s public space cameras have facial recognition?

What is E2?

What is the link between SafeCity, E2 and the Fusion Centre?

How does E2 work?

What is a Fusion Centre?

How does SafeCity work with Private Security and Insurance Companies?

Does my insurance company have access to footage?

Do all security companies have access to SafeCity?

What is the difference between a security company with access to SafeCity and without?

Answer

Vumacam, with the support of our Security Partners and Eyes & Ears (E2) has launched a SafeCity Initiative that sees an additional 1850 cameras activated across the city of which 350 new cameras will be installed in previously unprotected areas. This will instantly boost and fast track the current Gauteng network from 1st August 2022.

The SafeCity initiative provides our security partners with increased access to the full network of over 6000 of Vumacam’s cameras to assist with crime prevention and investigations.

The SafeCity Initiative is a collaborative and city-wide approach to citizen safety beyond your home and your neighbourhood streets. SafeCity looks to leverage the power of CCTV to help make your city safer such as public parks and green spaces, schools, places of work and commuter belts, not to mention a greater need to tackle vandalism and damage to critical infrastructure that affects all of us and provide security so that everyone can safely get to and from their homes.

The E2 Fusion Centre is an official and coordinated joint crime fighting initiative between the South African Police Service (SAPS), Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) and the Private Security Industry (PSI). The Fusion Centre brings together crime fighting technology, such a Vumacam’s video management platform and SafeCity’s increased camera coverage.

The SafeCity initiative has seen an increase in the number of cameras providing more coverage across Gauteng. The increase in activated cameras means that the E2 Fusion Centre and Vumacam’s Private Security Partners have access to a wider network of cameras.

Any Security Provider, who signs a contract with Vumacam, is able to have access to SafeCity where they have complied with rigorous controls, regulatory compliance, vetting and have a registered and regulated control room. The full list of the Security Partners who have access to SafeCity can be found in the list of partners on the SafeCity webpage.

SafeCity partners are able to access the full Vumacam camera network of which there are over 6000 cameras. A SafeCity Security Partner can choose to actively monitor areas that they previously may not have had access to and use the historical information from Vumacam’s platform post-event investigations. Access to a greater network provides your Security Provider with the ability to intercept and detain a vehicle before it reaches your community.

Security Companies without access to SafeCity will not have access to the camera feed nor will they be able to investigate any incidents. The Security Companies can request footage from Vumacam but this would need to be accompanied by a SAPS case number, a footage release fee and the footage will then be made available to the SAPS. If a Security Company is not a SafeCity Partner, footage cannot be released to them.

As of July 2022, there are over 6 000 cameras on the Vumacam network with an additional 1 850 that will be activated of which 350 new cameras will be installed in previously unprotected areas.

Vumacam’s system identifies and analyses groups of pixels and has no concept of what those groups of pixels represent. The software sees no detail whatsoever – imagery fed into the system is downscaled and grayscale. It ‘sees’ only the interaction of groups of pixels within a specific scene and their interaction with the fixed environment. The Artificial Intelligence software ‘self-learns’ normal behaviour patterns within 24hrs. When a group of pixels behaves in a way that is not consistent with the previous behaviour, it will be flagged as unusual with no further context.

Our License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras reference each plate that passes against the Vehicle of Interest (VOI) database. This includes in South Africa the Natis and security company databases of wanted vehicles involved in crimes. If the plate is not listed as a VOI, it is immediately discarded and the data will be over written. All VOI alerts are authenticated through our firewalled network, in real-time. Licence plate numbers are only flagged if they are involved in a verified incident.

Should you require footage for an incident, please contact your Security Provider who will advise what steps need to be taken in order for them to see if there is footage available.

Sharing of footage by Vumacam is regulated by POPIA, and Vumacam and the party receiving the footage must comply with the numerous safeguards built into POPIA to ensure that no third-party data subject’s rights are infringed.

Should footage be required for a criminal matter, this would need to be handled by law enforcement who would work closely with the Security Provider who monitors the cameras in question. Law enforcement may request access to the footage on submission of a case number or upon court order. The security provider and the Vumacam investigative team will work with law enforcement to locate the footage of the incident in question. Only footage of the matter which the case number or court order relates to, will be downloaded, and provided to law enforcement.

If the footage relates to a vehicle accident or a similar incident, the footage can be requested by an insurance company and must be accompanied by a case number.

The recipient of such personal information would be required to show that it complies with the provisions of POPIA relating to the protection, retention, and destruction of such information. The above precludes Vumacam for making its CCTV footage available to members of the public.

Footage cannot be released to a private individual as this would be in contravention of POPIA.
All footage released to law enforcement or insurance companies, needs to be accompanied by a footage release form which must include a case number.
The footage file will only be released if it is of the incident as described in the footage release form.
Historical footage only goes back as far as 30 days as all footage is removed from the server after 30 days. Should footage be requested within those 30 days, the evidence is locked in the server and stored indefinitely.
A fee may be charged for release of the relevant footage.

Your privacy is just as important to Vumacam, and by extension SafeCity, as your safety. While Vumacam’s video management platform does not process personal data to the extent that it can be used to link an individual to a name or address (as could be the case with cell phone tracking), we still deploy every level of security on our systems to ensure that they are not vulnerable.

In terms of investigating a past crime, our search (investigations) functionality has to be engaged. We have high levels of data security, privacy, vetting, training, log ins with VPN for traceability and systems in place to audit activities. Even with the level of checks and balances we have in place; improved technology has allowed Vumacam to put additional measures in place which include:

Multi Factor Authentication for the limited and vetted users who have access to our search capability.
Increased regularity and stringency of search function audits which over and above security company review will also be audited by the Vumacam CIO for any irregular activity.
Limited and vetted users of our search function may not engage the system for lengthy periods of time and would have to log in to separate search sessions should they require to do so for any investigation. Again, this would be flagged if suspicious.
To investigate criminal activity over a period of time, a case number or relevant court order is required.

The cameras and our platform cannot track the real-time specific movements of an individual or vehicle. This is not their purpose or function. However, the ability to flag vehicles of interest (VOI) or detect suspicious activity is invaluable when dispatching security or emergency support to the scene of an event quickly, or, to gather evidence in the case of a criminal investigation.

The notion of tracking a vehicle is a misnomer. The platform only has the ability to confirm the date and time a vehicle of interest has passed a particular camera when and if its license plate has been inputted due to criminal or suspected criminal activity. This would seriously impede any attempt to constantly track any individual (as it is via cellphone tracking) – especially without just reason to do so.

Vumacam’s video management platform does not process personal data to the extent that it can be used to link an individual to a name or address and as such anyone passing our cameras is completely anonymous. We therefore cannot “spy” on anyone as we have no way of knowing who is passing our cameras.

We have high levels of data security, privacy, vetting, training, log ins with VPN for traceability and systems in place to audit activities. Even with the level of checks and balances we have in place; improved technology has allowed Vumacam to put additional measures in place which include:

Multi Factor Authentication for the limited and vetted users who have access to our search capability.
Increased regularity and stringency of search function audits which over and above security company review will also be audited by the Vumacam CIO for any irregular activity.
Limited and vetted users of our search function may not engage the system for lengthy periods of time and would have to log in to separate search sessions should they require to do so for any investigation. Again, this would be flagged if suspicious.
To investigate criminal activity over a period of time, a case number or relevant court order is required.

No, Vumacam’s world class platform does not use facial recognition technology. The technology behind our cameras monitors for unusual formations of pixels caused by, for example, someone tripping over as they walk, or by someone being attacked and mugged in the street, an accident or a medical emergency. This capability is driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and does not employ any human involvement – which removes another potential source of bias. As such, the AI system is used rather to recognise identified pixels from crime incidents, rather than people.

Currently Vumacam is not considering using facial recognition as we don’t believe that it is as accurate or reliable as the artificial intelligence we currently use. We also have ethical and privacy concerns around facial recognition as we believe they have not been addressed in a manner rigorous enough that we would be comfortable to say that the technology meets our ethical standards or the regulatory requirements within South Africa.

Eyes and Ears (E2) is an official and coordinated joint crime fighting initiative between the South African Police Service (SAPS), Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) and the Private Security Industry (PSI). The collaboration between the private and public sector provides the SAPS with additional situational awareness by using the Private Security Industry’s (PSI) geographical deployment footprint and sharing of information.

In 2021, the E2 Fusion Centre was launched in Johannesburg which monitors escalated alerts and deploys SAPS resources to where they are needed most. The Fusion Centre enhances operational responses where there are incidents that rely on situational information and where there may be concerns of safety for both the SAPS and the PSI. This collaboration encourages the PSI to assist each other in a non-commercial and non-competitive capacity.

The Private Security Industry (PSI) formally cooperates with the SAPS by sharing incident (or situational) information directly to the Provincial Operational Command Centre (POCC) and all escalated alerts are then visually assessed by E2.

The PSI’s large geographical deployment footprint through its security ofﬁcers, patrol and escort vehicles, tactical vehicles and air support, provides excellent opportunity to fulﬁl this task. In many cases, the PSI guards are on crime scenes before the SAPS.

The PSI, through E2 and Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA), has at least one representative on a 24/7 basis in the POCC that manages the sharing of information with SAPS and the SAPS has representation in the E2 Fusion Centre.

The E2 Fusion Centre is a central control room located in Johannesburg that monitors escalated alerts received from the Private Security Industry, in order to deploy SAPS resources where they are needed the most.

Insurance companies are able to access the camera feed where they have complied with rigorous controls, regulatory compliance, vetting and have a registered and regulated control room. Those that do not have a control room are able to request footage directly from Vumacam where they believe that criminal activity has taken place that has impacted their clients; where fraud has been committed (a serious problem in South Africa which costs policy holders an estimated R7 billion a year); to assist with locating a stolen vehicle; or, where a client’s number plate may have been cloned.

Whether the Insurance Company has direct access to the feed or they request the footage directly from Vumacam, this is done so via a regulated process and is in the case of criminal, or suspected criminal, activity.