SINGAPORE, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Singapore authorities will install some new high-rise surveillance cameras that can zoom in up to 60 times on selected buildings in the city by the end of the year, local media reported on Saturday, quoting a police operations department spokesman.
Two of these eyes-in-the-sky cameras will be deployed on each of the three "strategic buildings" in the downtown Marina Bay district for a start, the Straits Times reported.
They will complement street-level cameras in the public camera zone, which cover more than 150 locations across the island.
The super-zoom Hawk Eye cameras will be able to resolve faces and number plates even from up high, but the police spokesman said at an exhibition that there will be "active masking" on certain angles to ensure privacy.
"This means we will program the cameras to blur out and mosaic certain angles, such as of hotel rooms," said the spokesman.
The long-range camera was one of a number of new technologies featured at the exhibition. Other new technologies on exhibition include the X-Pole camera, a camera-on-a-stick that lets officers see behind obstacles and the tops of large vehicles, and a camera- mounted undercarriage screening device. These will be rolled out for trial later this year.
The Criminal Investigation Department is also showcasing its new 3D Laser Scanner, which can create a panoramic digital snapshot of a crime scene in six minutes when it would have previously taken forensic officers up to a day.
Singapore is considered one of the world's safest cities, with a population of 5.31 million and 31,404 crimes reported in 2012, or 581 cases per 100,000 population.
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