Prague, Jan 11 (CTK) – The Czech police plan to reinforce their unit for the protection of President Milos Zeman, and possibly also install an advanced camera system at Prague Castle that would monitor the faces of visitors and recognise suspects among them, Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes yesterday.
After two security incidents occurred at Prague Castle, which is the president´s seat, last autumn, the police vowed that nothing similar would occur any more, MfD writes.
It refers to an artistic group whose members climbed up the roof of Prague Castle unnoticed and replaced the presidential flag with giant red boxer shorts, and to the penetration of a tourist group, including an “infiltrated” TV reporter, into the Castle´s premises that are closed to the public.
These incidents, together with escalating turbulences in Europe, have made experts ponder on how to protect Prague Castle more effectively, the paper writes.
Presidential Office head Vratislav Mynar previously announced that the camera system in the complex will be enhanced, as will be the protection of access ways, and that metal detection frames will be installed in front of the St Vitus Cathedral.
Apart from this, a special protection measure is being prepared, according to MfD´s information.
The security camera system might include a device that can monitor people´s faces and recognise those belonging to persons suspected of links to terrorism, the paper writes.
Zeman´s spokesman would not comment on the planned new device, but two sources from security forces have confirmed the plan, MfD writes.
For the planned advanced system to be effective, the police at Prague Castle would have to gain the database with information about suspected persons from the counter-intelligence service (BIS), the sources told the paper.
“The system is able to recognise that the tourists include a person whose behaviour is suspicious, different from other visitors, and to alert the security corps,” one of the sources is quoted as saying.
With this system in operation, the police would not have to install a high number of metal detection frames. The system monitors several parameters of a human face. The most sophisticated systems work with as many as 200 points on the face, Radomir Scurek, an expert from the Ostrava university, told the paper some time ago.
However, Scurek and other experts warn that the technology is not 100-percent reliable, as its success rate is influenced by many external factors, including weather, the hour of the day and the monitoring angle.
“The systems that are easily available on the market, have an error rate of up to 50 percent,” said Petr Keller, from the Abbas firm that deals with security technologies.
The most effective and also most expensive ones are up to 90-percent reliable, MfD writes.
Such systems are unusual in the Czech Republic, said Roman Vana, head of the lower house security committee. He said he knows about a hospital that uses the system to prevent the entry of unauthorised persons.
