Bengaluru cops spotting surveillance gaps, geotagging CCTVs

Bengaluru: To improve crime prevention and detection, Bengaluru police are identifying and eliminating surveillance blind spots in the city and also geotagging all CCTV cameras in public places, senior officials said.   

The objective, as Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda put it, is to identify gaps in surveillance, especially in places where crimes have occurred but lacked CCTV surveillance. 

Dayananda has directed the deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) of all eight divisions in Bengaluru to identify these surveillance blind spots. 

"An analysis is being done using data from the Mobile Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (MCCTNS)," Dayananda told DH. "We mapped the existing CCTVs and crime-prone areas with data from MCCTNS and the 112 emergency helpline. This was done beat-wise and helped us identify surveillance gaps in crime-prone areas. Efforts are also underway to install additional CCTVs."

The Karnataka Public Safety (Measures) Enforcement Act, 2017, mandates that commercial establishments, schools, hospitals and other public places with a footfall of 100 at a time or 500 a day install CCTV cameras at their own expense and provide video recordings of up to 30 days to police when required for investigations. 

The geotagged devices include the 7,500 AI-enabled modern surveillance cameras installed under the Rs 667-crore Bengaluru Safe City project, as well as an estimated 3.5 lakh cameras by private individuals and establishments in public places. 

"Cameras in public places are being geotagged with the MCCTNS database. In some cases, if one location had two cameras, only one might have been geotagged. Now, both will be geotagged, giving multiple viewing angles," Dayananda explained. "Cameras installed at homes facing outward (towards the street) will also be geotagged." 

Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and NGOs are also collaborating with the police to install cameras. However, in many places, these cameras haven't been geotagged. 

The geotagging is being carried out by the jurisdictional police. "It's almost done. This process will be ongoing as and when new cameras are installed at any public place in the city," the commissioner said. 

According to a senior police officer, geotagging CCTV cameras in public places greatly helps in investigations. When a crime occurs, investigators can access the MCCTNS database through the dedicated app and get the list of CCTV cameras installed at that particular location. 

"This will save crucial time. Investigators can immediately contact the people who installed the cameras and seek the footage," the officer said.