Security cameras at the Orleansplatz to be reduced

Munich. Security cameras will be installed to monitor Sendliger-Tor-Platz in the near future. To satisfy critics, the police will in return take down the cameras observing Orleansplatz.

Seeing as the crime situation at Orleansplatz has "considerably improved" as the vice president of the police department Robert Knopp said, it is now possible to move the cameras to Sendlinger-Tor-Platz. "We always said that we don't want total surveillance throughout the city", says Knopp. Head official Wilfried Blume-Beyerle says we are after all "not in England but in Munich".

Nevertheless there are doubts as to whether the security cameras at Orleansplatz will be removed permanently. "We will leave the wiring in the ground" stressed Knopp - a fast solution for reinstalling the cameras.

The crime rate at Orleansplatz has noticeably decreased since April 2007 when the three cameras were installed. The number of crimes between 2006 and 2009 went down from 185 offenses to 46 - a decrease of 75 percent. However there is still prominent alcohol and drug usage in the area.