Antwerp to Deploy Smart Cameras to Secure Jewish Communities

antwerp - The Antwerp police will monitor the Jewish neighborhood with smart cameras equipped with artificial intelligence to detect violent incidents in advance.

The Antwerp Police Zone will launch the Aegis project in January 2025, aimed at protecting Jewish communities from antisemitic violence. The European Union is funding the project, which involves collaboration with foreign partners such as Spain and Romania to develop new technologies.

The focus of the Antwerp police will be on 'smart threat detection'. The cameras will be able to recognize certain behaviors and facilitate searching the database of camera images. This system can predict certain incidents in advance and simplify the identification of suspects later.

In the future, the technology may be used in other locations, according to the initiators of Aegis. Antwerp is already familiar with similar smart cameras used to detect littering, with successful results from a previous project.