KOCHI: One of the major obstacles for the police while probing the death of three persons, including two models, in an accident was getting the CCTV footage to detect the trail of their car and the other vehicle chasing them from Fort Kochi to Chakkaraparambu on November 1. This problem was caused by the absence of functional police surveillance cameras in Kochi.
The city police hope to overcome this shortcoming as around 400 surveillance cameras linked to a dedicated control room are expected to be ready in six months. According to City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju, other than CCTV cameras for traffic management, there will be 400 cameras installed for security surveillance. The project is being carried out by Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) and the cameras will be operated by the police.
“Around 200 cameras have already been installed. We are in the process to identify places where the other 200 cameras are to be installed. We will be giving the list of locations to CSML soon. The setting up of the control room is in the final stages. Once the control room is operational, we can start the operations of the surveillance cameras. We expect to complete the work in around six months,” he said. The police will install surveillance cameras at all important roads, security-sensitive places and popular locations. These will work around-the-clock and can use artificial intelligence to identify culprits.
“We have around 15 surveillance cameras installed by Keltron in Kochi. But these are analogue cameras. We have asked Keltron whether these cameras also can be upgraded to digital technology which is used in cameras being installed by CSML. No doubt, once operational, this system will help maintain law and order in Kochi. It will also help police in the investigation into crimes,” Nagaraju said.
Kochi has adopted the integrated traffic management system for controlling and managing traffic. Cameras have been set up at 35 locations to detect traffic law violations. The CSML has completed the work to upgrade traffic signals along with the setting up of a command control centre. The entire system will be managed from the control centre located at Revenue Tower.