Only 10% Of Torrevieja's Traffic Surveillance Cameras Operational

[Carl]

https://www.informacion.es/vega-baja/20 ... 92169.html

Google translate, minus video (behind paywall) and images:

Fade to black for the Vyriato: only 10% of Torrevieja's old intelligent traffic network remains operational

The government team wants to compensate for the blackout caused by a lack of updates and maintenance of the system, which had more than one hundred cameras, with the planned investment in the center to activate the Low Emission Zone.

Only 10% of the cameras in Torrevieja 's traffic control system, installed in 2009, are currently operational, according to the Councilor for Security and Police, Federico Alarcón. The network had over a hundred control points when it was planned in the late 2000s, with expectations that extended beyond traffic control to include security. Some sources within the Local Police themselves lower that percentage even further, maintaining that none of them are working.

The councilor also points out that, apart from that network, around forty video surveillance cameras covering local assets, such as parks and municipal buildings, are fulfilling their purpose with more modern equipment. These have also decreased: from the 73 initially available in 2012 to about 50, and without the centralized control for which they were originally designed. Furthermore, the system has been expanded in specific locations to prevent theft, such as the Sports Complex. In addition, approximately 30% of the Casagrande industrial park is now also under municipal video surveillance.

ZBE

Alarcón points out that, at the start of the current term, a sum of one million euros was allocated in the municipal budget to address the complete renovation of the entire system. However, that money will ultimately be used to implement the specific video surveillance network planned for the city center, necessary to activate the Low Emission Zone, which includes, among other measures, the installation of 52 cameras.

As reported by INFORMACIÓN, this network was to be financed with European funds, but an appeal by a company to the Contractual Appeals Tribunal rendered the city's justification of the investment to Europe untimely. Although the company lost the appeal, thus vindicating the city, the City Council lost the funding.

In 2009, the Torrevieja City Council pioneered the implementation of a video surveillance system in the province of Alicante, with capabilities that extended beyond simply receiving video feeds. The more than one hundred cameras deployed along the main access roads, the coastal area, and the city center were capable, for example, of reading license plates and identifying the same vehicle throughout its journey through the city. This is commonplace now, but groundbreaking at the time for a local government.

Vyriato

For the first few years, the municipality touted the effectiveness of the system, which it named Vyriato, the Torrevieja Assertive Intelligent Video and Radar system. Its implementation was made possible by €1.5 million in funding from the government's Plan E anti-crisis stimulus package and by dividing the cost into ten contracts. In addition to the cameras, marine radars were installed alongside conventional cameras and acquired to detect high-speed vehicles.

The payment for the device was made, but the speed cameras never became operational because the authorities did not approve them for traffic control. They still stand on their poles, their rounded, white shape visible on the CV-95 near Carrefour and at the roundabout where Pinoso Avenue meets Gregorio Marañón .

Soon, the Vyriato faced significant obstacles. These ranged from privacy restrictions imposed by state legislation — such as the prohibition of traffic cameras "looking" at beaches — to very high maintenance costs, given the devices were exposed to a hypersaline environment by the sea; the lack of updates to the equipment and software that enabled them to function; and something as basic as the lack of personnel at the Local Police headquarters to monitor and control the cameras themselves.

Aid

The cameras helped solve several serious crimes thanks to recordings analyzed by the Local Police and the Civil Guard; for example, identifying the perpetrators of a kidnapping and robbery of a local restaurant owner couple. They also helped clarify the circumstances of several accidents with victims in the town center. And in the case of heritage surveillance cameras, which still partially operate through alarm centers and outsourced services, they reduced acts of vandalism by 90%.

But by 2015, a significant part of the system was already out of service. And in 2019, when the Councilor for Security, Traffic, and Local Police, Federico Alarcón, assumed these responsibilities, most of them weren't working, as he told INFORMACIÓN . Many can now serve a preventative role simply by being present in certain areas. But their outward appearance indicates that they have been out of service for a long time — and it might be advisable to remove them — as is the case with those located near Los Náufragos beach, Los Locos, or in La Manguilla, next to Alfredo Nobel and Avenida del Agua.

On the ground

On the ground, in recent years, the acquisition of educational radars, mobile radars and four fixed radars in the urban area or the vertical and horizontal lighting signage of pedestrian crossings and intersections, in the municipal area have been much more effective investments to give greater safety to traffic.