Jakarta – Bekasi Mayor Rahmat "Pepen" Effendi says the satellite city is mulling over a plan to install more CCTV cameras to suppress the crime rate amid rising sexual harassment in public.
"I've talked with the city police chief [Sr. Comr. Wijonarko]. I've told him we should have at least 1,000 CCTV cameras in strategic spots. I think we can do it," Pepen said on Tuesday, kompas.com reported.
Pepen said the cameras could be procured through corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from major companies. The newly installed cameras would then be connected to the Bekasi Police monitors.
"We have a lot of them [major companies in Bekasi], such as hotels on Jl. Mayor Hasibuan, other hotels, Metropolitan Mall," Pepen said.
"Do it with CSR [schemes]. They should install [the cameras] and we will connect them [to the Bekasi Police's network]," Pepen said.
However, the cameras would most likely be installed in strategic locations such as major roads, whereas sexual harassment in public often occurs in less crowded area such as housing complex alleys.
Several cases of sexual harassment in public have been reported in Bekasi.
On Dec. 20, 2019, a man flashed his genitals at a vocational high school student on Jl. Raya Pasar Kranggan, Jatisampurna, Bekasi.
Then on Jan. 15, a middle aged woman was groped on her breast by unidentified men in an alley in Kaliabang, North Bekasi.
A man also reportedly carried out an exhibitionist act on Jl. Raya Ahmad Yani, South Bekasi, on Jan. 23.
The police had only been able to uncover the Kaliabang case because of CCTV footage used to identify the perpetrator and his vehicle. The suspect, identified as Denny Hendrianto, 22, was arrested by the police on Jan. 17. (ami)