Colombia. The mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, said that the integration of 4,000 private security cameras that will be articulated with the security of the city, allow an advance in technological matters for the city.
"Bogota had fallen behind in relation to technological advances in an inexcusable way, the reason for these delays is that we are in a city inflexible to technological change," said the mayor.
"Why is it so costly from the point of view of procedure and decision-making to produce technology changes in Bogotá?" he asked.
He said it has to do with vested interests around old technologies guided by political interests that do not allow the city to advance. The mayor gave several examples of the resistance he has seen in the city in the face of technological change and that has no further explanation.
"These 4,000 private cameras linked to line 123 must guarantee a quick reaction of the police, the camera replaces the policeman on the street, but once he records the image, the policeman has to react with the instruments he has," he said.
"If the reaction doesn't work then the camera becomes preventive, which is when crime is prevented," he said.
The mayor announced that through the Surveillance and Security Fund, the District will invest 2.7 billion pesos to transform the interface that translates the signal of the cameras from analog to digital.
"We are going to link a thousand cameras this year and the goal is to reach 4,000 cameras next year, although London, a city similar to Bogotá, in population has 14,000 cameras," the mayor concluded.
