The old city of Jerusalem. Everyday thousands of tourists rush through the narrow streets and tour the small shops. Jews, christians and moslems live together on a very small territory. The conflict potential is very high.
Despite this the old city is a safe place - thanks to the electronic eyes of the police.
Even hidden corners are monitored by special cameras. No one can get in and out of the area without being seen by one of the many cameras. On top of that, the police is always present with strong forces in the whole town.
It all comes together in the strictly guarded police headquarters of the old city police. All around the clock, the police men and women inside know exactly what is going on outside. They stand in permanent contact with their colleagues and private security services outside.
Camera surveillance plays a big role in finding criminal suspects. Thanks to the modern technology it is even possible to get sharp pictures at night. Especially the main streets and car parks receive police attention.
But the cameras are not just to spot suspects, but also to avoid terror attacks. If someone drops a suspicious package somewhere, the control center sends special forces to the site.
Everyone that is on the move in the old city is being watched. The majority of the population supports the scheme. Safety has a high value in Israel.
Interview Micky Rosenfeld, Police Jerusalem:
This is the security surveillance centre, we're in charge of the security measures of the old city. Because of the intensity and the claustrophobic areas there are, in and around the old city, it's very important for us to have complete control, both in terms to have man power and technology that life can continue in a regular basis here. As well as a minimum amount of security problems both on a criminal level as well as on a terrorist level here.
In general there are 320 Cameras that are in and around the old city all the time, surveilling different areas. It is necessary for our police personal to cary out security measures to always stay one step ahead and prevent any incidents of taking place. The large amount of cameras that we have here in fact, that are watching the different areas, are the main areas where a lot of people are coming in and out of the old city, from the different communities – the jewish community, the christian community, the arab community – as well as thousands of tourists that visit here in the old city on a day to day basis.
As far as we are concerned we are capable of acting immediately, both looking at the incident, playing back and finding the suspects out of many incidents that have taken place... based on the technology that we have here we are capable of arresting those suspects and bringing them in front of the courts based on the crimes that we caught on camera here in the surveillance center.
