Big Brother really is watching your every move in one of the United Arab Emirates where 95,000 CCTV cameras are installed.
Ras Al Khaimah is the most northerly emirate best known for pristine Arabian Gulf beaches and a centuries old fort in the capital city of the same name.
With a population of just 265,000, the emirate has almost three cameras for every person – and the police and government want to install more.
According to Major-General Ali Abdullah bin Alwan Al Nuaimi, Commander-in-Chief of the RAK Police, security officers will monitor every entrance and exit to the emirate 24/7.
The extra cameras will track and monitor every car on the emirate’s roads from entering to leaving.
Every move tracked
The cameras will also capture the faces of drivers that will be instantly checked against criminal databases to identify wanted crooks.
The new CCTV network will be up and running in six months.
“The operation room of the RAK Police will be linked with live cameras to enhance security in the emirate,” said Al Nuaimi.
“All the roads of the emirate shall be covered with a network of interconnected cameras that track every car from the very moment it enters the emirate until its exits.
“It will live transmit all the collected data to the operations room of the RAK Police, and this will help stop violators and wanted criminals in a record time.”
CCTV in Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Ras Al Khaimah will also have two other extensive CCTV networks.
The Hemaya, or protection network, will see cameras fitted to every building in the emirate.
The third network will link cameras in banks to police control rooms in real-time to replace audio alarms.
“The live video system is slated to replace the audio alarm and to start operating within two months,” said Al Nuaimi.
Police in Dubai claim to have the whole city covered by CCTV and to have more than 3,000 cameras in the airport. Roads in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are monitored round-the-clock by thousands of CCTV cameras.
Falcon Eye, a CCTV network in Abu Dhabi, is said to monitor every individual and car in the city from when they join a road until going inside a building.
