SAPS choppers to get specialised surveillance cams

Forming part of the multi-million rand security plan for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, a R100-million contract between the SAPS and Carl Zeiss Optronics has been signed, giving the police the edge in the fight against crime.

A specialised surveillance camera system, the LEO II-A5-EP, will be fitted to helicopters in the SAPS’s air wing across the country, enabling the police to tag suspects with a specialised laser and follow them to pinpoint exact locations.

The cameras, upgrades on the current Goshawk system, will be fitted with a thermal imager and a specialised search light allowing the system’s operator to automatically track vehicles and people day or night, irrespective of weather conditions.

“The system, which is fitted with a microwave downlink, will allow those in command and control centres to see exactly what the system’s operators on the helicopter are seeing and has power to direct ground forces to the exact area where they are needed,” Gilbert do Nascimento, of Carl Zeiss Optronics, said at the signing ceremony.

He also confirmed that the R100-million contract covered not only the supplying of the systems, which are in use by European and South American countries, but also the microwave downlink capabilities and all external and internal aircraft related equipment, training and the supplying of aircraft moving map displays.

The hi-tech cameras are being prepped ahead of next year’s general elections and will come into operation in February.

“With our 12 air wing units across the country being fitted with these systems, our crime-fighting capabilities will be greatly enhanced, giving us the ability to reduce the risk to our forces on the ground,” police air wing national head, Director Janna van der Colff said, equating each helicopter to 25 police officers on the ground.

According to van der Colff, all the police helicopters in 2010 Fifa World Cup host cities would be fitted with the new systems, as well as four permanent systems for South Africa’s four major cities purchased along with eight mobile systems, to be deployed anywhere in the country.

“After the tournament we will then fit the remaining helicopters across the country with the camera systems,” he said.

“This is a golden opportunity for us to expand and this technology will give us the edge that we need over criminals,”