Madurai City Police are drafting an elaborate plan for bringing every street under its jurisdiction under closed circuit television (CCTV) cover to prevent and detect crimes.
The process of mapping hotspots for crimes such as burglary, chain-snatching and phone-snatching was under way, Commissioner of Police S. Davidson Devarisvatham told reporters here on Monday. With the city police facing shortage of manpower, the only way to prevent crimes was to fix CCTVs at vantage points, he said. “Initially, the cameras will be fixed at crime-prone spots on priority. However, the objective is to bring every street in the city covered by two or three cameras,” he said.
All the CCTV networks would be connected to the modern control room for tele-monitoring. Presently the city had around 3,000 cameras, including those in banks and marriage halls. “We need at least 9,000 cameras to cover the entire city,” the Commissioner said.
The cameras would have higher resolution of five mega pixels with night vision facility to provide clarity while identifying the faces and registration number of vehicles.
“The cameras will act as a deterrent of crime. They will also help in keeping tabs on history-sheeters,” he said.
After drafting the plan, the city police have planned to make an appeal to residents’ welfare associations and trade and industry bodies to sponsor the cameras.
