Palma city centre under video surveillance: Cort will install cameras in Plaça d'Espanya and Parc de les Estacions

Palma City Council will install a video surveillance system in Plaça d'Espanya and Parc de les Estacions, with a budget of €138,718 – the bidding process for the installation is still open. In addition to monitoring, this system will be equipped with artificial intelligence to analyze the images. The City Council's governing board approved the implementation of the video surveillance in October, arguing that it would reinforce security in this area, where a Local Police station opened last summer – however, complaints cannot be filed at this station. The constant presence of police officers will be complemented by 13 cameras, each licensed to use video analytics and artificial intelligence. According to the City Council's justification report, public insecurity has increased in this area of ​​Palma due to "the large influx of pedestrians concentrated around the main bus lines and the Intermodal Station," despite the constant police presence. Thus, the city council considers it "of paramount importance" to install "an autonomous surveillance system that operates without the constant supervision of police officers." "This is a system that uses artificial intelligence and video analytics to generate alerts autonomously and record everything that happens in these areas," the City Council states, adding that it also intends to use this system to record antisocial behavior. In addition to highlighting the importance of having images that are not subject to subjective interpretations, the City Council also emphasizes that the video cameras will reduce "personnel costs." "The cost of implementing a continuous surveillance system with police officers would involve training three eight-hour shifts, with one officer per shift, plus another two or three officers to cover vacations and days off, which would cost more than 200,000 euros," the City Council points out. Criticisms

MÁS por Palma has criticized the installation of video cameras in the city center, an initiative with a "repressive" purpose, according to the spokesperson for the eco-sovereignist party, Neus Truyol. "This is not a policy of coexistence, but a dangerous leap towards a model of a surveilled city," Truyol added, also lamenting that "Mayor Martínez is replacing rights with permanent suspicion." "This comes on top of the civic ordinance: social control to criminalize poverty, discipline the use of public space, and turn social problems into public order problems. We cannot solve social problems with more police and cameras," the spokesperson stated. Truyol emphasized that "recording everything and justifying it in the name of security violates fundamental rights such as privacy, freedom of movement, and the presumption of innocence, and takes us further away from a just and democratic Palma, putting technology at the service of repression."