BACOLOD City Councilor Al Victor Espino urged the business establishment owners in the city to install high-definition (HD) closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to help solve street crimes.

Espino, chairperson of the City Council committee on police matters, said yesterday that they already approved on first reading the Comprehensive CCTV Ordinance.

“I’m proposing this ordinance to help our policemen to solve street crimes. Through HD CCTV cameras a lot of crimes can be easily solved because it can capture the identity of the perpetrators,” he said.

He added that they will consolidate the three existing CCTV ordinances in the city, and the proposed Comprehensive CCTV ordinance will be submitted for second reading this week.

Espino pointed out that the intent of the proposed ordinance is to come up with a universal specification since most of the business establishments installed low quality CCTVs and cannot identify the perpetrators.

“That is why we are following the footsteps of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) requiring a minimum specification for CCTV cameras and digital video recorders for Bacolod City,” Espino said.

Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director Police Colonel Henry Binas also earlier urged the business establishment owners to install HD CCTV cameras to help solve street crimes.

“CCTV is a big help to determine the identity of the perpetrators in the crimes like shooting, robbery, theft, among others,” he said.