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[/floatl]Yomiuri: Anticrime cameras to be set up in Kawasaki
About 20 special cameras capable of automatically detecting patterns of human movement indicative of crime will be installed in a shopping district in Kawasaki in November, the National Police Agency said. The state-of-the-art cameras are equipped with an "abnormality detection function," which detects crimes including street assaults and purse-snatching, NPA officials said. When a camera detects unnatural movements, such as a person collapsing on the street, an alarm will sound at Kawasaki Police Station...As of March last year, the NPA had installed about 363 surveillance cameras in 10 prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka. However, this will be the first time for cameras with the abnormality detection function to be installed...The 20 special cameras, which will be monitored 24 hours a day, will trigger an alarm if the following crimes are detected: street assaults, when objects are swung around; purse-snatching, when a thief slowly approaches a victim from behind and flees after a theft; fighting, when a large group of people suddenly gather; and injury or assault, when a person is detected lying on the ground. When an alarm sounds, the police will study footage of the incident on a monitor linked to the cameras at the police station and attend the scene if necessary. The cameras also have a mechanism that sounds an alarm when a person below a predefined height is detected walking alone, such as a child who could fall prey to a crime...more...
