In the wake of the Boko Haram terrorist group abducting schoolgirls in Nigeria, Kenyan mobile phone company, Safaricom is building a $172 million security communications system geared toward fighting terrorism in the country.
The system will be designed to link all security agencies in the country, allowing them to share information in real time, and it will include ultra-high definition CCTV cameras with facial recognition abilities to allow police track suspects.
The Kenyan government will allot a spectrum worth $80 million to Safaricom in the first half of the project, to enable the company build a high speed 4G network exclusively for the police.
Safaricom will also supply the police with sophisticated radio communications gadgets fitted with SIM cards and cameras to be used in capturing images at crime scenes. Images which can then be sent in real-time to the security database for analysis of evidence.
The system will be released in Nairobi before the end of this year, while Mombasa will be covered in about 18 to 24 months. The two areas have been the hardest hit by terrorism.
Kenya has witnessed a string of terror attacks from Somali militia group, al Shabaab, most notable one being last year’s attack at Westgate shopping mall that saw over 60 people shot dead and hundreds of others severely injured.
[UPDATE]: Another explosion has been reported today at Nairobi, Kenya and four people are already reported dead. I hope the system gets deployed in time.
Photocredit: MilitaryBlog
