Surveillance system will trigger an alert whenever suspects with criminal antecedents pass through dozens of sophisticated cameras, installed along the industrial belt of Oragadam in Kancheepuram district.
The facial features of at least 10,000 persons with a criminal track-record are being fed into the system, which would ring the alarm whenever they come in contact with the cameras. The unique feature of the system is that even if the suspect changes his/her visible features, it will still recognise them, thanks to the facial recognition software that encompasses facial contours and dimensions captured digitally.
With 110 surveillance cameras installed in Orgadam (that has a large number of factories with thousands of migrant labourers) and 31 in Kancheepuram bus stand, Superintendent of Police M. Sudhakar hopes that cases like child-lifting, baggage thefts and rowdyism would be minimised to a large extent. “These cameras will also enhance the safety of women/children in public places and serve as a deterrence to anti-social elements. Efforts are on to upload the images of persons with criminal record in the neighbouring districts as well,” he said.
Besides temples and tourist destinations that draw a large number of people, Kancheepuram district also has some sensitive installations and coastal belt. “As many as 2,125 high quality surveillance cameras were installed in the last few months. We are planning to install about 5,000 cameras to bring all areas of public gathering and other vantage points like roads leading to the coastal areas, National/State highways and bordering districts under the surveillance system. The CCTV footage, which helps detect and prevent crime, is an admissible scientific evidence,” Mr. Sudhakar said. More focus would on areas that had a history of crimes, hit-and-run cases and road accidents, among other cases. Cameras would also be installed in all rural pockets. The police would arrest a suspect only if his/her detention was required.
The model of the Chennai Police in the installation of facial recognition cameras in T. Nagar, Anna Nagar, Purasawalkam, NSC Bose Road and other busy localities, has been emulated in Kancheepuram .The Superintendent of Police said he had made an appeal to the industries, business establishments and the local people to install CCTV on their premises.
