Media: Surveillance cameras installed in Bucharest pedestrian underpasses don’t work

The Bucharest City Hall has installed surveillance cameras in all pedestrian underpasses revamped in the last four years, but none of these cameras have ever been connected to the local police dispatcher. This means that nobody ever monitored the images recorded by these video systems, reports local Mediafax. For example, the surveillance system in the Latin Passage, which leads to Bucharest's Old Town, is still not functional, although it was installed some four years ago. Eight video cameras were installed in the passage, but none of them were connected to the police dispatcher, or to any other security center. Moreover, some of these surveillance devices have been vandalized and destroyed. The Latin Passage (former Lipscani Passage) connects Roma Square to Sf. Gheorghe Square. The underpass was fully renovated in 2012. In an answer to Mediafax, the Bucharest City Hall said that the District 3 City Hall is in charge of the Latin Passage. In return, the District 3 City Hall claimed that its only responsibility is to keep the underpass clean, while the Bucharest City Hall is in charge of its management and surveillance. A similar situation is also found at the pedestrian underpasses near Herastrau Park, which were renovated in 2012-2013 and put to use last summer. Both of them are equipped with modern video surveillance systems that have never been connected to a monitoring station. This situation appeared because the closing reception of the work never took place. “The work completion acceptance at Herastrau 1 and Herastrau 2 underpasses is underway. After that, video cameras will be connected to the local police dispatcher,” the Bucharest City Hall press office told Mediafax. The Bucharest local police says that it doesn't monitor any of these underpasses, as it has never been informed about the installation of video cameras in these places. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com