Indian cities to get free CCTV cameras as part of $1.5 billion ‘Secure Our City’ global campaign

A UAE company has announced the launch of a major campaign to equip more than 1.5 million buildings worldwide with security camera solutions. The first phase of the campaign by Secure Cam IT Solutions will be rolled out across 13 countries, starting with India and the UAE.
In India, the campaign will begin with Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. While the key focus of the campaign will initially be on major metro cities, cities from the states of Kerala and Goa will also benefit from it.
Secure Cam IT Solutions has already partnered with companies in India to execute the campaign. The company plans to enter India by the end of 2018.
Established in 2014, Secure Cam has been providing security solutions across the GCC and has since been working with more than 1000 large- and medium-sized corporates.
India has been seeing a spurt in crimes – specially against women and children – often in public places, residential areas, and even educational institutions and offices. The ongoing #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment is just one example of the scale of transgressions. Street crimes and violence have also been on the rise. As incomes increase, and people start living in isolated gated communities and sprawling homes, often with children away in other countries, the safety of senior citizens has become a huge concern.
 
Speaking at the global launch of the campaign in Dubai today, Rijoy Thomas, Chairman and CEO of the Abu Dhabi-based Secure Cam IT Solutions, said, “India will be one of the first countries where we plan to roll out the campaign across multiple cities. We aim to focus on the metros and a few other cities. Our idea is to secure at least one city in every country by the end of 2025. We plan to install a maximum of 10,000 cameras in each city. The total cost of the project is estimated at around US$1.5 billion.”
India has shown some alarming records – according to statistics released by India’s National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), cities and rural areas are becoming more unsafe for women, with registered reports only increasing with each year, though much of it still goes unreported to the police.
A total of 338,000 incidents of crime against women were recorded in 2016 against the total of 329,000 crimes against women in 2015. Delhi, in particular, presents a rather grave image. The overall crime rate in Delhi at 10,555 per million is significantly higher than the all-India crime rate of 2282.7. The rate of rapes at 247 per million (female population) was also much higher than the all-India rate of 55 per million in 2015.
“Everyone has the right to safety and we are committed to protecting you. ‘Secure Our City’ aims to fulfil our dream of a safe, secure and protected world for everyone,” adds Rijoy.
Secure Cam has launched an online portal where users from across the world can login and register their request for a free camera to be installed in their buildings, provided it is not already connected with a CCTV system.
“We want to ensure that the facility is provided to a building that has not yet been secured,” says Emil Jose, Chief Operating Officer, Secure Cam.
If an individual, or a group of individuals feel that their building or complex would benefit from the addition of a CCTV system, they simply need to log on to http://securecamitsolutions.com/register.html and fill out a registration form. Once the number of requests from a region reaches 500, Secure Cam will deploy a trained team of security professionals to install all relevant hardware and software, free of cost.
While the initiative itself relies on the end-to-end request of individuals, Secure Cam will also be seeking to collaborate with governments, allowing for a smoother installation process.
“We have already established partnerships with local agents and representatives for phase one of the project along with an inventory ready and prepped for installation,” he adds.
The countries short-listed for installation for phase one includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, Holland and Australia in addition to India. The second phase will focus on installations across other countries in the MENA region.
“We are encouraging government participation and hope to work jointly with local officials to further the cause for residents’ safety. We want to emphasise that Secure Cam is providing the security service completely free of cost,” says Ahmed Sarour Al Marar, Business Partner at Secure Cam.
The system will be allotted a two-year warranty period for hardware, and the company will provide a service contract for one year.