Hunan watched by 20,000 surveillance cameras

Road cameras

(ECNS) -- Central China's Hunan province has installed more than 20,000 cameras in public spaces to prevent and discourage crime, efaw.cn reports.

The "Sky Net" system launched last year was mostly completed by August, with 26,022 cameras and 103 surveillance rooms put into use.

A total of 186,000 private cameras owned by residential communities, shopping malls and private enterprises are to be integrated into the system, the report said.

Li Jiede, deputy mayor of Changsha, said the system is a leader in high-definition public video surveillance among other provinces.

The system has provided clues for more than 2,100 criminal cases including robbery, murder and theft, a local police officer said.

Police also said the system has prevented and discouraged crime in some residential communities.