Bangkok Metropolitan Police are seeking approval from city hall to install 6,000 CCTV cameras around the Thai capital.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Pisit Pisutsak said today March 7 that they are pushing for the cameras to help combat crime, the Bangkok Post reported.
In September of last year it was discovered that many CCTV cameras around Bangkok were actually fake and that corrupt officials may have pocketed the extra dough left over from the funds for installing them. No mention of that fact was made in the latest Post story.
Pol Maj Gen Pisit said today that he has ordered all police stations to make sure their sois are properly monitored to “ensure that police have eyes everywhere.” Stations are sending in their recommendations for where cameras should be installed tomorrow. If a crime happens in an area that doesn’t have CCTV cameras that police station will be punished, he said, because they had been given the opportunity to suggest where they needed cameras.
About 17,000 CCTV cameras have already been installed in Bangkok by City Hall and the private sector. No word is out on how many are actually operational.
