The surveillance vacuum and seemingly scaled-down police deployment at night have spawned a sense of insecurity among citizens
The surveillance vacuum and seemingly scaled-down police deployment at night have spawned a sense of insecurity among citizens
Dysfunctional police surveillance cameras have blindsided law enforcement from cracking down on street crime.
A classic case is the city police’s glaring lack of success in identifying the assailant who waylaid an early morning walker, a woman, outside the Museum botanical garden perimeter last Wednesday.
The police could not reportedly glean much information so far from the blurry black-and-white footage of the attack captured by an obsolete surveillance camera installed by the zoo authorities in 2015.
The surveillance vacuum and seemingly scaled-down police deployment at night have spawned a sense of insecurity among citizens.
Private camera footage of unidentified intruders trespassing on residential cameras has exacerbated the feeling of vulnerability.
For one, investigators had to rely on the video analytics of a grainy neighbourhood camera footage to crack the firecracker explosion outside the AKG Centre after a protracted investigation that drew flak from the Opposition.
Officials said only eight to nine surveillance cameras of the 236 odd devices installed by Keltron at the behest of the city police in 2011 were working.
Their warranty and annual maintenance contract had expired in 2018, and spares remained difficult to source.
The security situation in other urban centres was almost the same. A large swathe of the State remained distant from real-time police surveillance.
Law enforcement’s apparent lack of real-time situational awareness has increased the police response span to distress calls from the public.
A robust surveillance camera network is a force multiplier for the police. It helped them optimise deployment and respond quickly to unusual street behaviour. Moreover, police camera surveillance instilled a sense of security in public, especially in women and children travelling without an adult escort.
By some accounts, the Smart City project envisaged the installation of surveillance and red-light violation detection cameras. However, the project seemed in limbo.
The death of journalist K. M. Basheer in a drunk driving accident in 2019 sharply highlighted the lack of surveillance cameras along the Museum stretch. However, the authorities did little to address the lacunae.
Public outcry
The public outcry caused by the Museum incident has finally stirred the police into recognising the handicap.
State Police Chief Anil Kant has ordered District Police Chiefs to conduct an audit of closed-circuit surveillance cameras in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
The survey will cover cameras installed by private businesses, government and quasi-government agencies and residential associations. Mr. Kant has also ordered the immediate repair of dysfunctional police surveillance cameras.
