SEGAL dedicates US$21,000 surveillance equipment

The Security Expert Guard Agency of Liberia (SEGAL) has turned over US$21,000 worth of surveillance equipment, including several pieces of closed-circuit television (CCTV), to the Bureau of Passport and Visas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia.

A closed-circuit television is a TV system in which signals are not publicly distributed but are monitored and recorded primarily for surveillance and security purposes. SEGAL Chief Executive Officer Momo T. Cyrus, who made the formal presentation on Tuesday, March 28, at the Foreign Ministry following full installation, said it was in fulfillment of earlier promise to install surveillance in the Bureau of Passport.

“This institution’s contribution was significant in order to monitor the activities of the ministry and provide security to the country especially, the passport division”, he emphasized.

The SEGAL boss said he wants the private sector to become the brand ambassadors to private security in the country and contribute to a vibrant security sector through cooperation with the government.

“I want Liberians and the Government as a whole to look at the private security sector as a great team for cooperation in order to strengthen our country’s security sector and help move this country forward,” he added.

He therefore called on the ministry to work closely with SEGAL technicians in maintaining the setup for a period of one year and report any problem. “Whenever there is an investigation or a problem, the Ministry’s IT personnel shouldn’t touch it in the absence of SEGAL’s maintenance team, which will manage and maintain the system for one year before the Ministry can take over maintenance,” he told the Director of Passport, Ms. Marian F. Sandi.

During the haling over ceremony of the equipment to the Ministry, through the Director of Passport, Ms. Marian F. Sandi. SEGAL technical partner Lionel Keller, II, said the two 16-channeled televisions can record all or most of the day-to-day happenings within the Bureau, detailing that the hard-drive is one terabyte that can go for at least 30 to 60 days before reaching its full capacity.

According to him, the television records base on movement and when there are no movements, it stops recording. “This is a complete Class A Security System that you have here now. This system may go for at least five years if maintained properly,” he told Director Sandi.

In response, Ms. Sandi thanked SEGAL for the system, which she described as being very helpful. “Since the installation of this system, our works have been made a lot easier. We see what’s happening in all parts of the Bureau that we have the cameras installed,” she said. In November last year, SEGAL donated the surveillance equipment to the Ministry and offered to install them.

By Gloria T. Tamba-Editing by Jonathan Browne