Johannesburg/ Medellin - Mothibi Pheko's gun rested across his bullet-proof vest as he
patrolled a lush Johannesburg suburb backed by an array of
high-tech tools to combat South Africa's notoriously violent
thieves.
As he pulled over to check on residents, staff in the nearby
control room monitored surveillance camera feeds from around the
properties.
"We are proactive when it comes to crime prevention, not
only reactive," said Pheko, who works with local security firm
7Arrows, pointing out several closed-circuit television (CCTV)
cameras on different corners of the Sandown gated community.
"Every person has a right to be safe."
A growing number of cities worldwide are using advanced CCTV
systems and forensic tools like DNA databases to tackle crime,
raising concerns that privacy is being lost while criminals are
merely being pushed to poorer areas with less surveillance.
Security experts say state-of-the-art gadgets are no
substitute for efforts to address underlying causes of crime,
such as high unemployment and inequality, or to reform corrupt
and overburdened law enforcement agencies.
To speed up its response, 7Arrows buys live footage from
1,500 CCTV cameras around Johannesburg - set to increase to
15,000 by February - that can read licence plates in high
definition and use thermal detectors for poor visibility.
"Vumacam's vetted clients who have access to view our feed
can choose to overlay a number of software options that will
help generate alerts," said Ricky Croock, chief executive
officer of Vumacam which is rolling out the cameras.
"Analytic software filters out 95% of footage and only
unusual behaviour is sent to clients who then decide whether to
dispense a security vehicle."
FALSE SECURITY
South Africa has one the world's biggest private security
industries, with more than 9 000 registered companies and
450 000 active guards, according to the Private Security
Industry Regulatory Authority - far outstripping police numbers.
Barbed wire, electric fences and panic buttons are a part of
everyday life in a country with more than 20 000 murders a year
- the world's fifth highest murder rate in 2019, according to
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Senior officials have compared parts of South Africa to a
war zone. The army was deployed to seal off part of Cape Town in
July to rein in a spate of gang-related killings.
"South Africans absolutely normalise what is crazy for
anyone else," said Mandy Pienaar, a Johannesburg media executive
who three years ago was hijacked in her car and robbed at
gunpoint.
"We do have a very false sense of security living behind our
walls, with our alarms and our big guard dogs."
Tech innovations like Vumacam's CCTV roll out have attracted
criticism from civil rights groups in South Africa who say they
risk worsening the divide between rich and poor - in what is
already the world's most unequal country by income, according to
the World Bank.
"Those that can afford to are turning more to private
security who are essentially making a profit out of crime," said
Thami Nkosi from the Right2Know organisation, which has raised
concerns about people being surveilled without consent.
"CCTV cameras don't reduce crime, they displace crime ...
They just make criminals more sophisticated: they will put on
balaclavas, use inside contacts, speed up their pace. We are not
dealing with the root causes of crime."
Colombian police prepare to embark on an anti-crime operation in Tumaco. File picture: Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters
PEACE OF MIND
Halfway across the globe, Colombia's second city of Medellin
has a different model for fighting crime. Once Colombia's murder
capital, former no-go slums now boast open-air gyms, hillside
cable cars and community halls where youth orchestras play.
In the past decade, city mayors have invested hundreds of
millions of dollars in social development projects and urban
renewal to help bridge the gap between rich and poor and reclaim
areas that were once controlled by gangs.
There are fewer night-time gun battles since the death in
1993 of city drug lord Pablo Escobar, who ran the world's
largest cocaine cartel, though gang violence hotspots persist.
Medellin's crime prevention approach focuses on finding
alternatives to keep teenagers off the streets and away from
gangs who - often with the nicest clothes, motorbikes and money
in their pockets from drug dealing - can easily lure them in.
About 3 000 young people in Medellin belong to gangs or risk
being recruited, according to the mayor's office. Often armed
and fighting over turf, neighbourhood gangs control drug
trafficking and extortion and prostitution rackets.
Six months ago, Johan Rodriguez received an unexpected knock
on the door from social workers at his home in a gang-ridden
Medellin hillside slum offering him work or training as part of
a new programme to keep vulnerable young people away from crime.
"I was mixed up with the gangs then and I was consuming
drugs," said 25-year-old Rodriguez, one of nearly 1,000 young
people aged between 10 and 28 taking part in the "Parceros" or
"Mates" project, which city hall launched last year.
It offers support to go back to school, get job interviews
and set up small businesses, from textile to DJ companies, as
well as activities that help young people make friends across
the invisible borders that divide gang territory.
"While the violence is always there, the project showed me
there's something else around the corner, another way. It opened
up my eyes," said Rodriguez, who works in a motorbike factory
after social workers sent his CV to employers across the city.
"What I liked the most is that it taught me if you were
violent, you felt powerful on the street. But I learned that a
person is powerful when they have a peace of mind inside and are
happy with themselves."
The programme includes yoga, breathing exercises to deal
with anger, and challenges including diving into a swimming pool
covered with ice and walking over hot coals.
"The point of the exercises is to show us that we can
achieve goals and overcome our fears," Rodriguez said.
SUCCESS STORIES
Colombia and South Africa are both highly unequal countries
struggling to find ways to move on from violent pasts and reduce
widespread corruption and unemployment.
Community projects like the 'i was shot in joburg :)' shop,
which sells photos taken by homeless children at risk of drugs
and gang violence, seek to provide alternatives to crime.
In Pheko's Diepsloot township, 30 km north of Sandown where
he works, people pay R20 a month for community-run
patrols.
"We see projects come and go if they are functioning in
isolation," said Stewart Barret, director of Navan Consulting,
which analyses future trends in South Africa, calling for better
trained police, more jobs and well-functioning schools.
Security innovations like Vumacam and Aura - a mobile
platform which summons armed responders - are looking to work
more closely with the police.
"We know that without the improvement of social and economic
issues in the country, we are simply repeatedly filling a broken
cup," said Warren Myers, founder of Aura.
The police are working on a pilot project with private
security companies, said police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu
Naidoo, declining to give more details due to confidentiality.
"The South African Police Service welcomes and encourages
the involvement of private security in the fight against crime,"
he said. "They complement our efforts."
Meanwhile, South Africans are doing whatever they can to
feel safer, said Jason Mordecai, managing director of 7Arrows.
"People are building their own camera surveillance with
equipment bought online. They are using Whatapp groups to share
information," he said.
"The irony is that sometimes the security walls become so
high that you never speak to your neighbours. We become more and
more anonymous to one another as we try to hide from crime."
Back in Sandown, Pheko hit the accelerator as an alarm went
off in a nearby house. As he leapt out of his car, his radio
buzzed.
"False alarm," he said, adjusting his gun to continue his
daily patrol.