Violent crimes in a small town in Colombia have dropped drastically following the implementation of a new, cost-effective wireless infrastructure.
Since 2017, personal injury crimes in Bojáca have fallen by at least 45% while thefts have declined by 22%.
Bojáca, a small town near the capital city of Bogotá, began the fight against rising crime after it experienced a wave of violence and burglaries both day and night, as well as drug trafficking related offences. In 2016, the local government decided it needed to take pre-emptive action and implemented a video surveillance solution that initially covered six strategic locations in the town, coupled with an increase of police patrols.
In the first eight months of 2016, 80 personal injury cases were reported in the town. Over the eight months immediately following the launch of the surveillance platform, total recorded crime cases fell to only 44 – a drop of 45%. Police figures reflect a continuing reduction in crime even into early 2018.
The project began with the Columbian government approaching Maicrotel - InfiNet's partner and a key system integrator in Colombia - to design and implement a wireless network that would reliably transmit video streams from IP cameras. InfiNet Wireless is one of the largest privately owned Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) development and manufacturing companies in the world.
Some of the cameras are equipped with fixed lenses, others with remotely-controlled pan, tilt and zoom functionality. Maicrotel installed high capacity base stations from the InfiMan 2x2 Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) portfolio in four central locations. Other locations were fitted with the InfiLINK 2x2 LITE Point-to-Point solution because they were sited out of the base station’s reach and coverage.
The ultimate platform deployed enabled the law enforcement authorities to significantly reduce the crime rate in the town through the use of analytics such as face recognition and automatic number plate recognition as well as high quality video recordings that were used as evidence in court cases. A significant 23% fall in drug sales was also registered over a very short period of time.
The first phase of the project has proven to be so successful that a new budget has been allocated to increase the number of video cameras in order to monitor all access routes into the municipality.
"We are thrilled with the results of this project, as it helps us deliver much higher security to Bojáca and its surrounding communities and ultimately have a big and positive impact on their quality of life," said Carlos de la Madrid, LATAM Director at InfiNet Wireless. "The Bojáca police now have its eyes on all corners of the town, thanks to the reliable and dynamic monitoring platform we have deployed. In addition to carrying real-time video streams, we have also delivered a wireless platform able to support the town's need for high quality voice and data transmissions."
