Czech Republic: Bus serving Romani area installs cameras

News server iDNES.cz reports that buses on line number 16, which runs from the Czech town of Liberec to the village of Kryštofova Údolí, will soon be featuring their first security cameras to monitor passengers. The vehicles make regular stops in a place the news server describes as "a large ghetto in Machnín – Hamrštejn. Predominantly Romani families live on the very outskirts of society there."

"Line 16 doesn’t just have problems with robbery and petty crime on board, but also with attacks on the drivers, passengers and ticket checkers," said the chairman of the board of the municipal transit authority, Roman Šotola. "Even though security cameras encroach upon the privacy of our employees and passengers, protecting them from the perpetrators of crime and disorder is more important to us."

The Czech Office for the Protection of Personal Information (Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů – ÚOOÚ) has given its blessing to the cameras on bus line č. 16. "We had to prove that we had exhausted all other options for ensuring security on the buses," said the director of the municipal transit authority, Luboš Wejnar. David Pavlát, a spokesperson for the ÚOOÚ, said the Ostrava transit authority also uses security cameras in its vehicles.

In Hamrštejn passengers are only permitted to board the bus through the front doors. More ticket-checkers are working the line as well. The transit authority is collaborating with a Romani adviser for the area and has also turned to the municipal and state police with requests for assistance.

There are, however, only a few state police officers on duty in Liberec, and they cannot cover all of the high-risk times on line 16. "The parents of schoolchildren who travel from here to Liberec and back are the main people complaining about the behavior of some adults and children from Hamrštejn," said the Mayor of Kryštofova Údolí, Pravoslav Svačinka.

The cameras are hidden in the ceiling of the bus and are unobtrusive. Wejnar does not believe they could be destroyed or removed. "We will install cameras on four more buses by summer," the director said. The price of each one including installation is CZK 40 000 [EUR 1 575].

Signs on the doors and inside the bus cabin warn that the vehicle is being monitored by cameras. The video recordings are preserved for 24 hours. Only a specially trained employee of the transit authority works with the footage. Should someone fall victim to a criminal on line 16, the transit authority would hand the footage over to police officers.