AHMEDABAD: With western parts of the city reporting a string of serious offences in the past two days, the city police, now awake to the challenge, are resorting to technology to identify the suspects.
Zone I police officials are all set to carry out a checking drive at important locations, including banks, to ascertain whether the CCTV cameras being used fulfil the requirements laid down by the city police and whether the angle pans the surrounding area.
In the Rs 38 lakh robbery a couple of days ago, policemen could not get required footage due to the camera’s limited coverage. In the idol theft case, the cameras were not working, leaving the cops without leads.
Talking about the initiative, Virendra Singh Yadav, deputy commissioner of police, Zone I, told TOI that the police will help banks and other important institutions under his jurisdiction – Sola, Satellite, Vastrapur, Anandnagar and Navrangpura -to ascertain whether the cameras are functional.
“In incidents like robbery, CCTV footage is very important. In a couple of recent crimes, we have found that the cameras were not up to the standard and could not provide us the required information. Thus, as a preventive step, we have decided to help with the proper specifications and angles. In an earlier notification, city police officials have provided the specifications including resolution, night vision, and face recognition and points such as entry and exit,” said Yadav.
A team of policemen and experts will check the CCTV footage of various premises and suggest changes soon, said Zone I officials. The responsibility of checking the cameras is given to individual police stations. Officials added that if the implementation is not carried out even after the visit, action can be taken against the institution or individuals for violating the notification.
Talking about CCTV footage and detection, city police said cameras do work as a deterrent in some cases, especially in banks and ATMs. In a couple of cases, the accused were identified on the basis of the footage. However, after getting to know that the cameras are functional, the thieves first target the cameras and the storage box. Police have thus advocated deployment of security guards for added safety.
Parth Shastri Archive 