The days of the KET violators have been numbered: the surveillance cameras that register everyone in Kaunas will be operational in a month

Information on all passing cars will be stored for 3 years and will be used by law enforcement agencies. So far, this system does not work, legal problems are being harmonized. Representatives of the Kaunas municipality mention that the system can start operating as early as August.

The police will soon receive a new weapon.

“Big Brother is watching you”: This phrase “1984” from the somber dystopia of writer George Orwell could be written on all the roads leading to Kaunas without any irony.

For several months, the city has been surrounded by a new monitoring system. This has been noted by many drivers who have recently seen “garlands” of video cameras or poles with their “bouquets” on major roads and major intersections leading to and from the city.

Official information on the new system has not been released for some time. According to publicly available sources, Delfi has identified its key roles and capabilities. One of the main ones is to record the numbers of absolutely all the cars that pass, to quickly identify the cars you are looking for. Law enforcement agencies will also be able to use a variety of tools to analyze the information collected.

The new network of surveillance cameras is part of a project financed by the municipality of Kaunas, whose objective is to increase security in the city. After signing with Telia Lietuva 846.5 thousand. A total of 234 cameras were installed in 31 locations: in parks, other public spaces, and on major roads to and from the city.

Not only “normal” CCTV cameras transmit video guards, but a much more powerful surveillance system.

“It will be a ‘knife’ for criminals,” Delfi Darius Pliavga, deputy chief of the Kaunas County Police Chief Commissariat, told the website.

Must demonstrate BDAR compliance

It is true that this system has not yet worked. Representatives of the municipality of Kaunas, owner of this network of cameras, reported that it is necessary to obtain a permit from the State Data Protection Inspectorate (SDPI).
Delfi asked about current legal procedures and contacted the Legal Director of the Data Protection Inspectorate. Comment from specialist Dainora Bernackienė.

“Although the General Data Protection Regulation (BDAR) does not establish specific requirements for the regulation of video surveillance, video surveillance must comply with the general provisions of the BDAR. According to the BDAR, personal data can be processed only in accordance with the principles related to the processing of personal data: legality, fairness and transparency and limitation of purpose, i and Video surveillance must be legitimate and its purpose must be clearly identified and documented.

Pursuant to Article 5 (2) of the BDAR, joint data controllers, the Kaunas County Chief Police Commissariat and the Kaunas City Municipality Administration are responsible for ensuring BDAR compliance and must be able to demonstrate that is fulfilled.

The balance between the interests of the video surveillance organization and individuals should be considered when planning video surveillance. The Kaunas County Chief Police Commissariat and the Kaunas City Municipal Administration must assess whether the fixation of a specific territory is proportional and adequate to the objectives pursued, or whether there are no other means to achieve those objectives, ”commented the VDAI.

It is also noted that the municipality and the police carried out a data protection impact assessment on the PDAV before video surveillance began, since there would be systematic large-scale surveillance of public places. Upon receiving this document, the SDPI will express its opinion, for example, that the specific processing of personal data will not violate the BDAR and that appropriate measures are being implemented to protect the rights and freedoms of the data subjects.

“In the event that the Inspection determines that the planned processing of personal data will violate the BDAR, it will provide recommendations on the processing of personal data and the implementation of additional measures. Furthermore, the Inspectorate, considering that the processing of personal data will not comply with the requirements of the BDAR, may prohibit certain data processing operations, “said the Head of the Legal Department of the SDPI. Specialist D. Bernackienė.

Up to 1000 KET violations per day

This new monitoring system seems to be receiving more attention from data protection supervisors due to the extremely wide range of technical possibilities.

However, the representatives of the municipality of Kaunas mentioned that all the requirements have already been met and that the system will probably start operating as early as August.

Kaunas residents have been used to surveillance cameras operating in the city. Perhaps what’s new is that the new cameras have the following analytical capabilities: face detection, human counting, moving object tracking, graphic motion display, crowd detection, object recovery, fire and smoke, and loud sound detection.

The much more relevant news is that a network of cameras installed in the city will automatically record violations of traffic regulations. The system will operate in the same way as tripod speed meters powered by some drivers: the information will travel directly to centralized systems that will generate and send an administrative violation report.

These cameras will be able to record 3 different KET infractions: crossing a continuous line, turning from an unauthorized traffic lane, and entering an intersection when a prohibited traffic light is turned on.
The technical documentation states that if one of these KET violations is detected, the system will produce a 20-second video. It is specified that the image must be captured 10 seconds before and after the moment of damage.

“The record of the violation and all the information related to the violation will be kept in the video surveillance subsystem for 1 year from the moment of the violation,” the documentation will specify.

The offending car’s registration number will be immediately identified and all material will be transferred to the Administrative Offenses Registry. In cases where the number cannot be identified or there is evidence that the identification is not completely accurate, the non-compliance data will be stored for 6 months.

During that time, the police officer who viewed the video will have to decide whether or not to send the material to the crime record.

“The capacity of the subsystem to store information about KET violations must be calculated at least 1,000. record and store infringements per day for a year ”, indicated in the technical description.

The information on the plates will be stored for 3 years.

An automobile license plate recognition system will provide a much wider range of options to the police. It will not only allow you to scan and record in the database the numbers of all the cars that pass through the cameras, but also determine the country in which they were issued. Information will be collected on the specific location of the camera that the car captured, in which direction and at what time.

“The number recognition subsystem will ensure that at least 100 numbers per second are recognized and stored during peak hours, which can last up to an hour. When designing the data warehouse, it must be considered that 700 thousand people can pass through the monitored areas per day. vehicles whose numbers must be identified on both the front and rear, ” says the technical documentation.

All the information will be stored for three years. Search engine optimization assumes that this data will be archived in one year.

It is also possible to use a fairly extensive filtering system for the collected data. The police will be able to explain the movement of the cars that interest them not only by knowing the specific license plate number, but also its fragments.

Technical capabilities will also allow filtering of data on cars captured by country of registration.

According to Delfi, the video transmission will be processed by the Danish company’s Milestone Systems A / S software X Protect Professional +, and the cameras will be highly criticized by the Chinese company Hikvision, which faces a possible data leak.

Blacklists will be created

Technical documentation states that the system must recognize at least 95 percent of car numbers with a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour when the plate is not obstructed by an obstacle.

“The subsystem must be able to compile lists of special registration numbers. Once the number of these lists has been captured, the subsystem should automatically send SMS or email messages to the operator’s workstation,” states the technical description.

Police officers have mentioned that the possibility of drawing up so-called “blacklists” will greatly facilitate the work of forensic scientists. Not only will they allow you to quickly get information on where you are looking for the car, but they will also give you immediate feedback.

Although the capabilities of the technical system are not widely publicized, the need to compile not one but many of these lists in procurement documents seems to indicate that the number scanning system will be used not only by many police departments but also by other structures. of law enforcement.

A police spokesman said: the system will serve public surveillance, not global surveillance

When the Delfi portal first revealed the possibilities of the network of cameras installed in Kaunas, there was considerable public interest in whether or not we were moving towards global surveillance of people. The following requirements in the technical documentation were troubling: cameras must have face detection, human counting, moving object tracking, and other functions.

Commenting on this situation, the then Deputy Commissioner-General for Police, Edvardas Šiler, assured the public that the system would be used for the investigation of crimes and the enhancement of public security.

“The reality is that there won’t be as detailed a facial recognition, because most of the cameras are focused on the flow of cars, and a person is sitting in a car, so it is natural that it is difficult to recognize the face.” The main emphasis is on safety, on incoming and outgoing cars.

For example, we had that situation with a child who was allegedly kidnapped, so in such cases it would be quite quick to know if the car had Dutch license plates or not. It is a modernization that is natural in this century.

In most cases, the mobile phone we have can do much more than the massive monitoring initiatives announced here, “added the interlocutor.

He mentioned that the new cameras are “covered” outlets from Kaunas.

“A car moving from one place to another may still crash at some point. Basically the cameras will capture all the machines. In the case of a criminal offense, it will be possible to see the specific moment of who was driving there, ”said E. Šileris, who held the position of General Commissioner of Police.

Police plans include number scanning cameras on unmarked cars

Delfi has already written that average speed meters also scan state car numbers. This information is verified in the databases and, upon confirmation that the car is not covered by compulsory insurance or without passing a technical inspection test, an infringement report is automatically prepared and sent to its owner.

The surveillance camera system surrounding Kaunas should perform similar functions, but there is another innovation in police plans.

When another unmarked police car was installed in Kaunas, which is equipped with a modern speed measurement system, police representatives confirmed that one of its possibilities is recognition of all the state traffic numbers passing.

According to police representatives, automatic verification of information in databases to search for cars without insurance or without success is not yet operational.

This requires solving the problem of speed measurement system compatibility with databases, as well as automating the entire process.

“This is our future project,” confirmed the chiefs of the Highway Police Board of the Kaunas County Chief Police Commissioner.