FAQ

Vumacam, with the support of our Security Partners and Eyes & Ears (E2) launched the SafeCity Initiative in July 2021. The initiative increased camera coverage across Gauteng with new cameras being installed in previously unprotected areas.

The SafeCity initiative allows for our partners access to the full network of over 6000 of Vumacam’s cameras to assist with crime prevention, economic development and investigations.

The SafeCity initiative is a collaborative and city-wide approach to citizen safety beyond your home and your neighbourhood streets. SafeCity leverages the power of CCTV to help make your city safer in areas such as public parks and green spaces, schools, places of work and commuter belts. It also assists with the greater need to tackle vandalism and damage to critical infrastructure that affects all of us and provides security so that everyone can safely get to and from their homes.

The E2 Fusion Centre is an official and coordinated joint crime fighting initiative between the South African Police Service (SAPS), Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) and the Private Security Industry (PSI). The Fusion Centre brings together crime fighting technology, such Vumacam’s video management platform, Proof and SafeCity’s increased camera coverage.

The Vumacam SafeCity initiative has seen an increase in the number of cameras providing more coverage across Gauteng. The increase in activated cameras means that the E2 Fusion Centre and Vumacam’s partners have access to a wider network of cameras.

Any security provider, who signs a contract with Vumacam and have complied with rigorous controls, regulatory compliance, vetting and have a registered and regulated control room, is able to have access to SafeCity. The full list of the security partners who have access to SafeCity can be found on our partner webpage.

SafeCity partners have the ability to access the full Vumacam camera network, of which there are over 6000 cameras. A SafeCity security partner can choose to actively monitor areas that they previously may not have had access to. Furthermore, they are able to load Vehicles of Interest (VOI) that are suspected of being involved in a criminal incident and use historical information from Vumacam’s platform post-event for investigations. Access to a greater network provides your security provider with the ability to intercept and detain a vehicle before it reaches your community.

Security companies without access to SafeCity will not have access to the camera feed nor will they be able to investigate any incidents. Vumacam’s partners may request footage from Vumacam, but this would need to be accompanied by a SAPS case number, a footage release fee and the footage will then be made available to SAPS. If a security company is not a SafeCity partner, footage cannot be released to them.

SafeCity partners have the ability to access the full Vumacam camera network, of which there are over 6000 cameras. A SafeCity partner can choose to actively monitor areas that they previously may not have had access to and use the historical information from Vumacam’s platform post-event for investigations. Access to a greater network provides your security provider with the ability to intercept and detain a vehicle before it reaches your community.

By the end of 2024, Vumacam's platform, Proof, manages over 18 000 cameras, consisting of both public and private cameras. Only the public space camera feeds are accessible to our partners for monitoring under the SafeCity initiative. Private space cameras are monitored exclusively by the relevant security provider, as per their contract with the private organisation that owns the cameras.

Vumacam’s system analyses groups of pixels without understanding what those pixels represent. The software does not perceive any detailed imagery — it processes downscaled, grayscale images and detects only the movement and interaction of pixel groups within a specific scene.

Using Artificial Intelligence, the system self-learns normal behaviour patterns within 24 hours. When a group of pixels behaves in a way that deviates from this learned behaviour, it is flagged as unusual, but without any further context. An example of this would be a residential street where cars regularly drive up and down the street and pedestrians use the footpath. Should a pedestrian run across the road or try to climb up a wall, the system would recognise this as unusual behaviour and an alert would get sent to the control room.

Our Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras reference each plate that passes against the Vehicle of Interest (VOI) database. This includes the South African SAPS Unicode and security company databases of wanted vehicles involved in crimes. If the plate is not listed as a VOI, it is immediately discarded, and the data will be overwritten. All VOI alerts are authenticated through our firewalled network, in real-time. Licence plate numbers are only flagged if they are involved in a verified incident.

Should you require footage of an incident, please contact your security provider or insurance company, who will advise what steps need to be taken for them to assess the availability of footage of the incident.

Sharing of footage by Vumacam is regulated by POPIA. Vumacam and the party receiving the footage must comply with the numerous safeguards built into POPIA to ensure that no third-party data subject’s rights are infringed.

Should footage be required for a criminal matter, this would need to be handled by law enforcement who would work closely with the security provider who monitors the cameras in question. Law enforcement may request access to the footage on submission of a case number or upon court order. The security provider and the Vumacam investigative team will work with law enforcement to locate the footage of the incident in question. Only footage of the matter which the case number or court order relates to, will be downloaded, and provided to law enforcement.

If the footage relates to a vehicle accident or a similar incident, the footage can be requested by an insurance company and must be accompanied by a case number.