Police to monitor CNY crowd with surveillance cameras

Surveillance cameras will be used to monitor crowds at tourist attractions following last year’s practice by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) during the Lunar New Year period.
A special device was installed on a portion of the city’s surveillance camera posts last year to assist the PSP in evaluating the crowds at the locations where the system was being tested.
Those testing locations included the Ruins of St. Paul’s and Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, more commonly known as San Ma Lou. The PSP said in a recent interview that it would conduct the same test this year at the same locations during the Lunar New Year holiday period.
Following this year’s test, the system will be fine-tuned to eliminate any bugs or defects, and to accordingly amend exact system specifications. Once these changes have been made, coverage of the system will be expanded to other locations.
The cameras were installed to cope with the expected influx of tourists during the period.
The devices help to monitor the human density at a particular location and offer the PSP visual data to manage accordingly.
During previous major holiday periods, the PSP employed a three-tier system in human traffic management. Directions of human flow were controlled and at the most crowded locations, roads were cordoned off from motor traffic.
The system also facilitated interdepartmental collaboration which involved the Municipal Affairs Bureau and the Transport Bureau. The PSP expects this mechanism to be in place again this Lunar New Year period. AL