Taipei still has scores of “blind spots” not covered by surveillance cameras that are prone to criminal activity, a report by the National Audit Office said.
The office mandated the Taipei City Police Department to install more surveillance cameras in 41 locations to assist in fighting crime and better safeguard the public.
The police department said that it plans to install 500 surveillance cameras by the end of this year and another 400 units next year.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
The report cited 48,000 locations in Taipei that had been the site of one of the following categories of criminal offenses: homicide, burglary, violence resulting in injury, theft, endangering public safety, destruction of property and offenses against freedom (which Chapter 26 of the Criminal Code says include abduction, forceful confinement, sexual assault and restricting freedom of movement).
The report further listed 41 places as “blind spots” that have no “video recording coverage” within 200m, which had been the site of a major crime five or more times last year.
The lack of surveillance cameras could give rise to further criminal incidents, and authorities must take remedial measures to prevent crime and safeguard the public, the report said.
The Taipei City Police Department said that street surveillance cameras are used to protect public security, but it also has to respect people’s right to privacy.
Decisions to install security cameras are made based on the type of public spaces and implemented in stages based on a priority list for budget allocation and urgency of public need, it said.
“The priority is to install [cameras] at known hot spots of criminal activities, as well as based on past criminal incidents and investigation records, along with traffic conditions,” it said.
The department undertakes on-site inspections and assessments of these locations with relevant authorities for a prudent evaluation of the location and the number of cameras that need to be installed, it said.
Some of the blind spots cited in the report have no cameras due to environmental and other factors, while others that do not have sufficient coverage could be filled by cameras in the area installed by private citizens, dashcams of passing vehicles, eyewitness accounts, gathering of evidence and forensic examination during a criminal investigation, it said.
In 2021, Taipei had 15,616 street surveillance cameras and reported 34,180 criminal incidents that year, of which 8,671 cases were solved with the aid of surveillance cameras, it said.
In 2022, the city reported 36,210 criminal incidents, of which 13,300 cases were solved with the aid of surveillance cameras.
Last year, with the total number of surveillance cameras reaching 18,094, it solved 13,091 of the 38,523 reported criminal incidents.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS