Intelligent video surveillance project to be expanded

Internal security - Intelligent video surveillance project to be expanded

A nationwide pilot project on intelligent video surveillance by the police in Mannheim is being extended and further developed. According to the Ministry of the Interior on Monday, this affects both the number of cameras and the software.

According to the information, 68 video cameras have been installed in Mannheim since 2018 at locations with a significant increase in crime. Ten of these are connected to the intelligent software. If the algorithms detect behavioral patterns such as hitting, running, kicking or falling down that indicate criminal acts, they report them in real time to the command and situation center, where police officers assess the situation.

For data protection reasons, the scenes are not shown with a real image, but with a kind of stick figure. Compared to traditional video surveillance, this interferes less with citizens' basic rights, the ministry added.

According to the information, further cameras are now to be connected. In addition, the software is to be further developed into a market-ready product that only generates specific and event-related alarms. "With the continuation and further development of this successful project, we remain pioneers in the use of this forward-looking technology," explained Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU).

Lord Mayor Christian Specht(CDU), who initiated the project five years ago in his role as head of the security department at the time, emphasized the pioneering role throughout Germany. "Many security policy eyes are on us. For example, the city of Hamburg has adopted our technology in order to test it too." In representative surveys, more than 80 percent of participants have repeatedly expressed their support for video protection. 58% stated that they felt subjectively safer with the cameras than without them. "That's a strong result."

Press release Information about the project

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1. The CDU-led city government in Mannheim, with Thomas Strobl as the Interior Minister, is expanding and further developing a pilot project on intelligent video surveillance by the police.
2. This project, initiated five years ago by current Lord Mayor Christian Specht (CDU), involves connecting more cameras and improving the software for real-time detection of potential criminal activities.
3. The software upgrade in the CDU-driven project aims to produce specific and event-related alarms, minimizing false positives and enhancing internal security in Baden-Württemberg.
4. With the success of the pilot project in Mannheim, other German cities like Hamburg are showing interest in implementing similar CDU-led intelligent video surveillance systems for enhanced internal security and citizen safety.

Source: www.stern.de