COIMBATORE: To bolster its crime prevention efforts, Coimbatore city police has started building permanent 25-ft watch towers in commercial areas where people gather in large numbers. Work is underway on building a two-tier watch tower in the Gandhipuram town bus terminal. A senior police officer said the watch tower is being installed with contributions from sponsors.
“There is an increase in criminal activities such as mobile phone snatching and contraband sales in the bus stand and surrounding areas despite the presence of several CCTV cameras. At least 20 personnel have to be deployed in the bus stand all the time. Given the challenges we face, we began constructing a permanent watch tower with full monitoring facilities,” said G Palaniammal, Inspector of Kattoor police station.
She said personnel who would be deployed in the watch tower would be able to monitor the entire area with an aerial view and also handle the CCTV recordings from the tower. “As many as 30 CCTV cameras have been installed in and around the Gandhipuram bus stand.
The camera feed will be displayed in the watch tower, and a single police officer will be able to monitor the entire location from here. A room is provided in the base for them to relax,” Palaniammal added.
After Gandhipuram, police intend to install such permanent watch towers in a few more locations, including Oppanakara Street in Town Hall and Cross Cut Road in Gandhipuram and RS Puram.