Monitoring crime through video cameras

THE CITY police have started field trials of a day-and-night video surveillance network for monitoring crime prone areas and traffic situations at sensitive points in the city.

Senior police sources told The Hindu that the centrally controlled network of highly sensitive video cameras would become operational by early October.

Several strategic locations in the city has been selected for positioning the video cameras with night vision capability. The key areas which would come under 24-hour surveillance of the cameras are Thampanoor Bus stand, Central Railway station, Overbridge, SL Theatre Road, Pazhavangadi, East Fort, Statue, Secretariat Gates and General Hospital road.

The cameras would be remotely controlled from a special cell that would be set-up at the Police Control Room. The live feed from the cameras would be recorded by the police.

A senior official said the surveillance network was an effective mechanism for improving the operational efficiency of the police and preventing petty urban crimes such as eve-teasing, chain- snatching, drug peddling and waylaying of pedestrians.

The black and white CCD cameras would be mounted on `pan and tilt' units which will enable the men at the Police Control Room to have a 360 degree view of the ground situation. The cameras which have powerful motorised zoom facility are also capable of plus or minus 90 degree vertical movement.

The video signals from the individual cameras will be transmitted to the Control Room through cables. At the Control Room, officers would be able to view the high resolution images of a single camera or multiple cameras at the same time. The system will have the facility for scanning and displaying the areas under surveillance at specified intervals. Policemen will be able to record or freeze the image transmitted by any of the cameras.

The Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (CDIT) has designed the surveillance system and is primarily responsible for its installation. The project is being implemented by the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation under the Peoples Plan Campaign for 2000-2001.

The CDIT has already conducted initial surveys to decide the optimum position for placing the surveillance cameras. Sources said that cameras would be placed atop the Chaithram Hotel and on poles at Ponnara Sreedhar Park.

At Overbridge, the Cooperative bank building, and Hotel Fort View at Pazhavangadi, the Thriveni Building and Hotel Pankaj at Statue are being considered as camera emplacements. The cameras would be concealed and the instruments housed in a tamper proof manner.

Meanwhile, the police has approached a private cable television company for using its existing video cable network for transmitting the information from the cameras to the Control Room. In the long run, the police would opt for an independent cabling when the surveillance network is expanded.

However, the project does have its limitations. During night the cameras would be able to identify persons only up to a distance of 75 m.

The camera's vision is limited to a circular area of 100 m radius. The visibility area of the camera is restricted to the line of sight. Due to the positioning of the cameras on high rise buildings and poles, the image of the object under surveillance could be distorted owing to top-angle viewing.

Senior police officials said the surveillance network would instill an amount of confidence in law abiding citizens and act as a deterrent to criminal elements.

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Section  : Southern States
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