Security and Alarm Systems Blog

China is planning to boost their use of Security Cameras.

On Monday an article came out about security cameras in China. China’s police say they have installed 2.75 million surveillance cameras since 2003 and plan to expand the system into the countryside, which is home to about 800 million of the country’s 1.3 billion people.

The cameras are the most visible components of police surveillance, mainly in urban areas, according to a news release posted Monday on the Chinese Public Security Ministry’s Web site.

These camera security systems have proved controversial in other countries, like Britain, which reportedly has 4.2 million surveillance cameras installed – which is about one per 14 people. The ratio of cameras to people stands at only one to 472,000. The camera-to-person ratio is believed to be much higher in China’s cities, with the capital Beijing having 265,000 cameras.

No dialog or privacy rights has arisen in China, where tight communist political control and broad and intrusive police powers have been the norm for half a century. However, China’s plans to combine surveillance cameras with face recognition software has raised concerns about how the equipment will be used.

The Associated Press reported “Thefts, burglaries and purse snatching have all more than doubled since the 1990s amid rising wealth inequalities and relaxed social controls, with about 4.75 million cases reported in 2007, the last year for which statistics were available. However, police say violent crime has declined in recent years with better enforcement of rules governing weapons and explosives.” The Chinese police believe that the expansion of camera security to the countryside should “put the safety of the broad masses of the people first and foremost.”

A man was shot about 100 yards from our office. There’s a park across the street where kids play and gang members sometimes hang out. Everyone was working as usual when we heard 3 gunshots. I saw the man laying on the ground, but didn’t think anything of it because there’s usually people laying down on the grass. Then I was one of our neighbors running to him, and I knew this was bad.

A bullet was found in the doorway 3 doors down! Looking at the trajectory, it must have shot straight over Shaunde’s car, gotten slowed down in a tree, and finally hit a storm drain and ricocheted around a sheltered doorway.

The Police were here quick, and they stuck around for hours. One of the investigators noticed our CCTV system, and asked to see the footage, but unfortunately we were in the middle of switching out a DVR, and the Cameras were turned off. It happened too far to see anything clearly anyways, but it would have helped some. We definitely feel bad, its not every day your surveillance system cameras are pointed at an attempted murder.

I read that the man lived, and is going to be OK, and The police arrested a gang member shortly after the shooting.

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Progressive Technology has been installing Pelco Equipment for 20 years. We know that a Camera or DVR from Pelco will last, and that Pelco will replace any faulty product faster than any of their competitors, usually next day.