China's southern Guangdong Province is installing 1 million cameras in public places including busy streets and railway stations as part of its surveillance efforts to contain crimes.

The cameras, which will be fully operational next year, will automatically alert police about fights, robberies and other major crimes and incidents, Saturday's China Daily quoted an anonymous police officer from Guangdong provincial department of public security as saying.

The system, which is yet to pick up its full speed, has helped police detain more than 10,000 suspects since the beginning of the year. More than 18,000 cases of street crime have been prevented or fought, according to the newspaper.

The cameras will be part of an advanced video network that will link local police crime-reporting centers to every major public place in the region's cities.

So far, the province has already had more than 900,000 video cameras in major cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Dongguan and cities in the Pearl River Delta.

Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao, is one of China's leading exporters and home to tens of thousands of migrant workers and business people who seek development and opportunities.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2009)