Kovaipudur residents take the lead in crime prevention

As many as 24 CCTV cameras have been installed in residential areas

May 06, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:35 am IST - COIMBATORE:

A view of the feed from surveillance cameras in one of the houses where it is monitored and recorded at Kovaipudur in Coimbatore.

A view of the feed from surveillance cameras in one of the houses where it is monitored and recorded at Kovaipudur in Coimbatore.

To prevent crimes and to enable the men in khaki detect crimes easily, Hill View Kudiyirupore Nala Sangam at Kovaipudur has installed 24 CCTV cameras in their residential areas.

These cameras were put to use recently in the presence of Assistant Commissioner (Law and Order) South of the city police G.S. Anitha.

Presence of an electronic eye to maintain vigil will only help detect and prevent crimes supplementing the efforts of the manpower-starved police machinery.

The association is in the process of installing eight more cameras in their locality during the next two weeks to take the total number of cameras to monitor the nearly 130 houses located in nine streets in that locality to 32.

The cameras were installed to cover the end to end view of the streets.

Arrangements are in place to store the video feed for a longer time.

President of the welfare association A. Joseph told The Hindu that four thefts were reported in the locality from January to March this year. “In two houses, jewels and cash were stolen through the window when the occupants were fast asleep. In other incidents, the back doors of the houses were broken open,” he said.

On March 21, residents invited Kuniyamuthur Police to conduct a crime awareness programme for the residents, when the police inspector suggested that residents could install CCTV cameras to increase surveillance in a bid to reduce the movement of strangers in the locality.

Residents of Kovai Garden, Vishnu Graden, Perumal Nagar and extension, Bank of India Colony and extension and Saibaba Nagar and its extended areas took part in a consultative meeting and effort began to install cameras. Each house contributed Rs. 3,000 for installing the common CCTV cameras and the cameras were erected at an estimate Rs. 4 lakh.

“There are four centres (houses) from where the cameras are monitored and camera feed is recorded,” Secretary of the association R. Sivarajan said. Residents said that bringing the area under surveillance was cost-effective compared to installing CCTV cameras around their house individually.

City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan said that it was the first of its kind initiative to bring an area under CCTV surveillance in an organised manner in the city. Residents of Saibaba Colony are also planning to bring their residential areas under CCTV surveillance in a similar fashion.

“Few more residential associations have come forward for installing CCTV surveillance,” he added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.