| The capital's police officers do not count on the help of CCTV cameras The huge amount of money invested by the capital's authorities in the creation of a total video control system does not seem to have provided the Moscow authorities with the desired results. Therefore, on the eve of the celebrations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Victory, law enforcement agencies, fearing terrorist attacks, still intend to rely not on panic buttons and video cameras, but on strengthening police patrols with soldiers of internal troops.
The head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate, Vladimir Pronin, recently honestly admitted that the installation of a huge number of video cameras throughout the city did not greatly improve the detection of crimes. Speaking at a meeting of the capital's government on Tuesday, he said that the equipment was installed as part of several disparate city programs and without coordination with the police. As a result, the monitors on the control panel at police stations turned out to be virtually useless. According to Mr. Pronin, there were cases when a crime was committed directly in front of the camera, but the low resolution of the lens did not allow the criminal’s face to be seen. With video cameras installed in entrances under the “My Yard, My Entrance” program, things are even worse. “The image is given mainly from upper angles, so it is almost impossible to see the person entering - we only remove headdresses,” Mr. Pronin said.
Not expecting to defeat crime with skill, the police decided to take out the criminals in numbers. Yesterday on Khodynskoye Field there was a review of units of internal troops deployed to protect public order in the capital. Several thousand people took part in the review, not counting the equipment. According to the press service of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, up to 8 thousand military personnel will be sent to help the capital’s police during the holidays. First of all, these will be fighters from Dzerzhinsky’s separate division, as well as units of the Sofrinsky brigade of internal troops. Special motorized military units located in the administrative districts of Moscow will also be involved in patrolling the city. The necessary military reserves will also be created in places of permanent deployment of military units.
Perhaps the fighters of the elite motorized units have a clear idea of what kind of likely enemy they will have to fight on the streets of Moscow, but strengthening the capital's police with conscript soldiers looks like the same dubious idea as filming the hats of passersby on video. Residents of the capital already know that soldiers who do not know Moscow and are armed only with gas masks and periodically patrol the subway can only shoot cigarettes. One cannot expect from them competent actions to prevent a terrorist attack or detain an attacker, and emergency training and coordination of the actions of such “strengthening” can only distract the police from fulfilling their direct duties. Alexander GUDKOV |
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