Around P45 million have been saved by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in its procurement of the Body-Worn Camera System (BWCS), the savings were used to buy a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system that will be used in counter-terrorism of its elite forces across the country.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said the total of P45,111,006.28 savings from body camera procurement was combined with the P19,429,717.08 savings from the recent improvement of the PNP Command Center to buy the CCTV Rapid Deployment System.
According to Eleazar, the CCTV Rapid Deployment System is composed of 10 deployable CCTVs with Artificial Intelligence, video management system, 10 CCTV mobile trailers and 10 generators. Each camera of the CCTV Rapid Deployment System can be loaded with 200 pictures of wanted criminals and terrorists.
Each of the 10 CCTV mobile trailer station has three cameras in order to maximize the documentation of the operations.
“We were able to save this huge amount through a transparent and honest procurement system of the body-worn cameras. This only proves that the money entrusted to us by the people are fully-accounted up to the last centavo,” said Eleazar.
An initial amount of P333 million was appropriated for the procurement of 2,696 body-worn camera units and its entire system but it was only actually procured for P288 million after the public bidding conducted by the PNP National Headquarters Bids and Awards Committee.
Included in the BWCS procurement is the acquisition of accessories; video management software; computer servers; storage and connectivity systems for the body worn cameras; and the installation of a central data center, a national management and monitoring center, 17 regional monitoring centers, and 81 provincial monitoring centers.
Eleazar said the cameras for the CCTV Rapid Deployment System and the hardware were already delivered. The delivery of the entire system is expected to be completed by July 2021.