site.btaInterior Minister Vouchkov: Just One in Six Municipalities Has Video Surveillance

Interior Minister Vouchkov: Just One in Six Municipalities Has Video Surveillance

Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, November 30 (BTA) - Interior
Minister Vesselin Vouchkov said on Sunday that just one sixth of
Bulgaria's municipalities have video surveillance cameras. He
was in Maritsa Municipality which has piloted a video
surveillance project. It started with eight CCTV cameras in
seven villages in 2013. Since then, crime has dropped 30 per
cent, said Plamen Ouzounov, Regional Director of the Interior in
Plovdiv.

Vouchkov praised the project as an example of valuable
cooperation between the State, represented by the Interior
Ministry and the police, and the regional authorities. He said
he was scheduled to meet with the leadership of the National
Association of Municipalities in mid-December to discuss a
single approach to the installation of such systems across the
country. It should be clear who finances the project and
maintains the cameras and who is in charge of the interaction
between the police and local government. In a year this approach
may gather speed and be put into practice across the country,
said Vouchkov, adding that the regional authorities would
provide the bulk of the financing.

Maritsa Municipality invested public money to the amount of
30,000 leva in the video surveillance project.

Vouchkov also said that stationary and mobile cameras would be
installed around Bulgaria, including for road traffic control.
He stressed the number one challenge now was to amend the Road
Traffic Act to comply with the interpretive ruling of the
Supreme Administrative Court and ensure the legal use of mobile
cameras issuing electronic tickets for traffic offences. There
are 148 cameras in storage now and if 150 more are added,
traffic police patrols will become superfluous, said Vouchkov.