When it comes to securing their neighbourhoods, many residents’ welfare associations swear by closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance. Pooling money, residents go in for this ‘impersonal 24X7 cop’. At Downtown, every month, we hear of at least one association taking this initiative. More often than not, we don’t hear about what the initiative has done for the neighbourhood, or about what it takes to keep these technology-driven safety systems going.
With our curiosity piqued, we prepared a list of questions with which we approached associations that have installed CCTV surveillance systems in their neck of the woods, in recent years. We expect the answers to these questions to help associations that plan to go in for CCTV surveillance in their neighbourhoods.
Is there a monitoring room?
A year ago, the association at Sundara Murthy Vinayagar Koil Street, Triplicane, set up 24 high-definition CCTV cameras covering all the streets in the neighbourhood and a little area beyond too. Passing the hat around, the Association raised Rs. 2.50 lakh to purchase all the equipment, including a digital video recorder (DVR). Now, the question was: Where will the images be monitored?
Ashok, a member of the association, volunteered to give a room on the ground floor of his house, where the DVR could be set up and association members monitor the footages.
In the event of a complaint or suspicion, the Association secretary combs through the footages.
“He also reviews the footages once in three days or a week,” says C.K. Gangadharan, the Association’s president.
Who pays for the electricity?
The Federation of Residents Welfare Associations of Rajakilpakkam (FRWAR), to which 32 resident welfare associations have hitched their wagons, has installed 134 CCTV cameras (with night vision) across the locality. The DVR for the 134 cameras have been set up in 34 houses, along with a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) connection.
The cost of power consumption on account of this equipment is borne by the resident of the particular house.
However, not many residents welcome the idea of monitoring work at their homes as this involves loss of a certain degree of privacy. It may also require them to open their doors to the police or strangers.
Is there an alternative space?
Some associations take an alternative route.
V. Rajagopal, president of the Anna Nagar Western Extension Phase II Residents Welfare Association, says footages from the CCTV cameras are monitored from a small room in a public park maintained by the Association.
“Having the monitoring facility in a common location enables all residents to have access to the footages round the clock, thereby bringing more transparency to the initiative,” he says.
“Retrieving one or two footages take around two hours. Not many are willing to open their doors to the police or other strangers,” points out S. Muralikrishna of Krishnapuram Residents' Association in Ambattur, which has installed 23 CCTV cameras at a cost of Rs. 3.5 lakh.
Is daily monitoring possible?
Most associations monitor the footages following a complaint. Can associations be more pro-active and monitor the images every day with the aim of identifying strangers prowling around the area and thereby prevent a crime?
B. Devadoss, treasurer of FRWAR, says, “Though DVR is operational 24 hours, monitoring the footage constantly is practically impossible as most of us are working professionals. When the necessity arises, members of the Federation inspect the video.”
He believes the mere presence of a CCTV camera will be a deterrent to offenders.
But daily monitoring is being done in some places. P. Vinayagamoorthy, an environment and social activist and a resident of Sri Ram Colony, who has installed over 30 CCTV cameras in Sri Ram Colony, Judge Colony, Kamakoti Nagar, Meenakshi Street, Bala Vinayagar Kovil Street and Ayyappa Nagar, Tambaram Sanatorium (East), localities found within half-a-kilometre radius, monitors the footages regularly.
“Every day, during my morning walk, I scan the footages, checking whether the surveillances systems are functioning properly. Additionally, with the help of a few volunteers, the footages are scanned at periodic intervals.”
Besides this, the footages are also monitored at the control room of the S12 Chitlapakkam police station.
Are installation spots reviewed?
Are the locations of the CCTV cameras periodically reviewed, and some of them shifted to new locations in the neighbourhood, based on fresh safety inputs?
The KK Nagar Seventh Sector Residents’ Welfare Association has installed 16 cameras in all its its streets, which together have 343 houses. On the advice of police personnel at the R7 Police Station, the Association shifted some of the cameras to new locations.
“Five cameras were placed on 34th Street. But later, one of them was shifted to the entrance of 36th Street as it served as more of a vantage point, covering the entire 36th, 38th and 34th Street; 33rd Street witnessed a similar case of relocation,” says K.S. Rajan, the Association secretary.
In 2009, Prime Terrace residential apartment in Thiruvanmiyur mounted CCTV cameras at four locations, with dummy cameras in the elevator lobby.
By 2014, they added more cameras to cover the strategic location in the apartment. Of the 48 cameras on its premises, 24 were recently replaced with high-definition cameras.
“However, we decided not to install cameras on the apartment terrace as it infringes on one’s privacy,” says Prema Parthasarathy, secretary, Owners of Prime Terrace and Residents’ Association, adding that the footages are available to the committee members, who can view them on their phones.
(With inputs from Liffy Thomas, D. Madhavan, L. Kanthimathi and T.S. Atul Swaminathan)
