CCTV cameras across Tamil Nadu to be geo-tagged

The state police is half-way into preparing a comprehensive online database of all government-owned, sponsored, and private CCTV cameras across the state.
Every police station can access data of CCTVs in their jurisdiction
Every police station can access data of CCTVs in their jurisdictionPhoto | Express
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CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu police will no longer need to send search parties to evaluate the availability of CCTV cameras near a scene of crime, as cops will soon be able to get all the information about CCTV cameras with just a click of the mouse, and save them precious time while pursuing cases.

The state police is half-way into preparing a comprehensive online database of all government-owned, sponsored, and private CCTV cameras across the state, and it will be accessible on a common platform.

Every camera will be geotagged and this will help cops view the availability of CCTV cameras in a particular location, the same way how users can get information from Google maps about restaurants, ATMs or toilets in the vicinity of a particular location.

Every police station will be able to access the data of CCTVs available in their jurisdiction by logging into the specialised government web portal.

As on January 30, data of around 1.8 lakh CCTVs across Tamil Nadu has been collected on the portal, which is hosted on a department server that is accessible only to the police. The exercise was started in Madurai city in December and will soon be completed.

The system does not provide any live feed or stored video footage from any of the cameras, a senior official said. It will provide information on the type of camera like Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ), its working status, the storage space available and the contact details of the location where it has been installed.

As all cameras are geo-tagged, it will help field officers understand which CCTV cameras can be used as evidence based on distance and direction from the scene of crime.

The web portal also has two important features for a postmortem analysis of the system’s efficacy – firstly, it allows cops to identify sensitive locations where CCTV cameras are required, but not available, for future procurement.

Secondly, police officers will also be able to enter success and failure stories pertaining to each CCTV camera; for example, if it helped solve a particular crime or the reasons why it could not.

The initiative is aimed at strengthening law enforcement capabilities and reducing response time in crime prevention, detection and investigation, DGP Shankar Jiwal told TNIE.

Eyes on the ground

All information regarding govt owned and sponsored, and private CCTVs on one platform

Investigating officers can access availability of CCTVs in a particular area on the portal

Will help reduce response time in crime prevention, detection and investigation

Provision to identify blackspots on vulnerable stretches

Success and failure stories for each CCTV camera will be noted

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