What started as a surveillance measure to monitor and regulate traffic at important junctions appears to have created a wave of awareness amid the general public in the district.
What is more they seem to be ready to join hands with the police and assist them in crime detection.
No wonder then that the Meenakshi Nagar Residents Welfare Association at Mannargudi recently installed seven CCTV cameras in the area and linked them to a control room set up in the house of an office-bearer.
Residents pooled money for setting up the network and its maintenance, says Babu of Meenakshi Nagar, a residential locality opposite to Rajagopalaswamy Government Arts College.
Initially, it was five cameras only. But when the initiative was brought to the notice of Mannargudi Town Police, they directed the association to add two more so that the area near the entrance of the college on the main road would also come under the scanner. The association agreed in order to ensure the safety of students, particularly women, he adds.
Repeated calls from the police to business establishments and traders to install closed circuit television cameras also seem to have paid off.
The ‘Third Eye’ is now visible in tea and snacks bars in small towns too, says Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mannargudi, V. Karthik.
He attributes the public gesture to growing realisation that such security measures help the police in detecting crimes quickly. Hence, CCTV networks are being installed either individually or by residents welfare associations on the premises and localities, he adds.
Mannargudi, for instance, boasts of a total of 32 CCTV cameras under the road safety project. The surveillance cameras are connected to a control room at Mannargudi Taluk police station.
Now, residents, traders, shops and business establishments have strengthened the network and converted the law and order exercise in to a public movement, police point out.
