Dear Reader
CCTV has become part of our everyday lives, there is no longer any mystery around how it works and what it does. So much so, that millions are being installed all over the world both privately and publicly to detect and thwart crime and enforce laws. The rampant deployment of cameras over the past few years, in India is resulting in them being often installed without proper assessment of the purpose they will serve. The elements of professional ‘System Design’ seem to be frequently missing.
In Chennai the police had installed close to 1.2 lakh cameras in the first 10 months of 2018. By now, I am sure the number would’ve crossed 1.5 lakh! Chennai’s Police Commissioner says, efforts are underway to bring the whole city, one of India’s largest, under CCTV surveillance. The police are aiming to have a camera every 50 meters on its main roads. With that kind of an approach, the design element becomes less important.
The Chennai police chief Mr. AK Vishwanathan is known to be a huge supporter of video surveillance. He has asked citizens to help law enforcement authorities detect and thwart crime by establishing CCTV cameras in every house, shop and building. He has even asked the civic authorities to make CCTV installation a mandatory requirement for new building plan approvals. He says, “If residents contribute 80 per cent by installing cameras, we can cover the remaining 20 per cent in public places”.
The passion with which CCTV deployment is being promoted in Chennai, has even resulted in some top film and television stars of southern India being roped in to inaugurate city surveillance projects, and to produce short films aimed at building public awareness and encouraging the citizens to become partners in CCTV deployment. The city police have also been conducting a door-to-door awareness campaign in homes and businesses.
Perhaps, this was the reason behind the amazing incident, where a nine-year-old girl contributed ₹1.5 lakh from her life savings to fix CCTV cameras in the city! A few weeks ago, Srihita of Kattupakkam had taken part in a meeting organised by the police near her father’s office regarding the setting up of CCTV cameras. On learning that the cameras will help the police in nabbing criminals, she decided to contribute her life savings to prop them in the city.
While the city police has been attributing crime detection and deterrence to thousands of CCTV cameras installed across the city, a section of residents in Tondiarpet claim that the CCTV cameras are of no use for them as they failed to detect thefts, due to poor maintenance.
The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) residents in Tondiarpet, who are mostly daily wage earners, had pooled in over ₹36,000 and handed it over to the police to install CCTV cameras in their locality. Reportedly seven cameras were purchased with this amount and installed four months ago. Besides, the police also installed more cameras in the locality. However later, when some thefts in the area went undetected, the confidence of the residents was shattered. Residents claim that after installation of the cameras, the police did not bother to follow up on the maintenance of the equipment and believe this to be the reason for the cameras failing to detect the thieves.
This is something that I have been highlighting for a very long time now. It is easy to acquire equipment but very difficult to maintain it over its life cycle and beyond. Sadly, the story in other parts of India is no different, where defunct CCTV cameras, with loosely hanging wires around them can be often seen in public places.
But hats off to Chennai! The city definitely takes the cake when it comes to its passionate citizens participating in the public-private partnership programs and contributing their hard earned personal funds to purchase CCTV cameras for their city surveillance projects. Perhaps that is also the reason why they are so concerned about the upkeep of these cameras!
Till we meet next month, Stay safe and keep others safe.
G B Singh
Group Editor
Email: gbsingh@1stasset.org
Follow me on @EditorGB
Connect with me on Linkedin.com/in/gbsingh9
