The Hindu

• The police are installing surveillance cameras to catch offenders 
• The project is estimated to cost about Rs. 28 lakh
• The system is expected to assist police in tracking down criminals as well

Mangalore, Sep 5: The city traffic police will install high-definition surveillance cameras at important junctions here by November, Superintendent of Police N. Sateesh Kumar has said.

Two types of surveillance cameras assembled by Bharat Electronics Ltd. will be installed. Mr. Kumar told The Hindu said that one type of camera would be used purely to identify vehicles jumping signals. Another type would have a wide-ranging application to assist both the traffic and the crime detection branches of the police.

Cameras that will identify vehicles jumping the red signals will be installed at five places: Hampankatta Circle, Ambedkar Circle, P.V.S Circle, Lalbagh Circle and Bunts Hostel junction. The cameras cost Rs. 18 lakh. The multi-purpose cameras will initially be installed at Mahaveera (Pumpwell) Circle and Hampankatta Circle on a trial basis, at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh, he said.

The Red Light Enforcement System is expected to work on “auto-pilot mode”. “The moment a vehicle crosses the line when the red light is on, a sensor will take note of the violation and immediately trigger the camera. Police officers at the control room will be automatically notified and they will in turn prepare a traffic ticket and despatch it to the Regional Transport Authority. The RTA will forward it to the postal address of the violator,” Mr. Kumar said.

The multi-purpose video surveillance system will use a sophisticated camera that captures a 360-degree view of a junction and cover a radius of 1.5 km. The video footage and photographs gathered by this camera will be uploaded onto a server and filed into a massive database.

Presenting a hypothetical situation, Circle Inspector (Traffic East) G.V. Subrahmanyam said that in case a criminal act was committed in the 1.5-km radius, the photo and video files of the camera could be accessed and scanned for any suspicious behaviour. “It will even help monitor the activities of police personnel on duty,” he said.

Mr. Kumar said that the technology was an investment in the future. “The city is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years and that will put tremendous pressure on law enforcement agencies that are already overburdened and facing staff crunch. The system is already operational in Bangalore and it has been extremely successful in curtailing traffic offences,” he said.