Police said on Sunday that a system which can analyse real-time foot traffic will be put to use for the first time at Lan Kwai Fong on Halloween, when revellers are expected to swarm the area to celebrate the festival. Around 25,000 people are estimated to turn up in the nightlife district on Thursday, similar to last year. Traffic arrangements will be implemented in phases from 2pm. Most roads in the vicinity will be closed to vehicles at night, and party-goers can only enter the area through D'Aguilar Street and exit from Wyndham Street. Acting Superintendent Fung Chung-pang said CCTV signals will be streamed directly to police's command centre. "The CCTVs will provide real-time footage from various angles, allowing officers to understand the situation live. The force will also make use of a people-counting system to work out the crowd density at the scene through visual analysis. This will allow us to identify underlying safety risks, and to implement crowd management measures should they be needed," Fung said. Officers said a total of 50 sets of CCTVs have been installed in the area, as well as a public broadcast system to alert citizens in case of emergencies. Taxi ambassadors will also roam the area to assist revellers to hail a cab home. Police also warned anyone planning to dress up for the night not to carry any imitation firearm or offensive weapons to avoid falling foul of the law. They added that artificial intelligence technology may be used in the future to identify accidents or events at which police assistance is needed.
