Hong Kong police are struggling to figure out who is pouring acid on pedestrians, Time Magazine reports:

After Mongkok’s last acid attack, which occurred May 16, police installed eight CCTV surveillance cameras on two buildings in the area to try to catch the culprit the next time he or she struck. But after spending about $220,000 on the equipment, none of the cameras’ footage caught this week’s attack. Senior Superintendent Edward Leung Ka-ming of the Kowloon West regional crime unit said the collected footage needed to be “enhanced” because of its poor resolution to prove useful. While the district council decides what step to take next with the cameras, the police hope pedestrians might have some tips of their own.

A bottle full of acid was dropped from a building on June 8th, said to have been a rainy night. When it exploded twenty-four people were injured.

Did police realize they needed better resolution only after installing the cameras? And did they plan on any upgrade path for resolution or will it require physical and on-site replacement? Perhaps an even better question is whether the $200K could have been spent on other control measures such as nets covering the street. Not an ideal solution, but if the concern is keeping shoppers feeling safe then nets probably make more sense as they have prevention capabilities rather than just detection.