With the Deepavali shopping season gathering momentum, the police are gearing the force up with drones, closed circuit television cameras and body cameras for crowd control in T. Nagar.
New initiatives have been introduced in addition to existing practices for effective surveillance and crime prevention in the area.
Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan inaugurated CCTV units and other surveillance equipment on Saturday in the presence of Additional Commissioner of Police (South) Magesh Kumar Agarwal, Joint Commissioner of Police C. Mageshwari and other officers of the Mambalam police station.
The police are conducting a series of campaigns on the importance of installing CCTV units in the city.
The police, in association with a few resident welfare associations and traders, have installed 750 CCTV units in Mambalam and the Soundarapandianar Angadi (Pondy Bazaar) shopping area in T. Nagar.
As many as 10 CCTV units that have face-detection technology and number-plate reading facilities have been installed at vantage points and vulnerable areas such as Ranganathan Street, Usman Road and T. Nagar bus terminal.
Eyes in the sky
With the help of experts from Anna University, the city police have also introduced drones for effective aerial surveillance. Beat constables were given ‘smart jackets’ with body cameras, and deployed for patrolling in 15 sectors round-the-clock.
The body camera will record video and audio when the beat officer starts his daily duty, and the current location of the beat officer will be tracked from the police station.
According to police officers, it will allocate emergency calls based on the location of the beat officer.
The smart jacket, while helping to ensure public safety, will also help improve patrolling, and will be useful for better evidence management.
Talking to reporters here, Mr. Viswanathan said: “We have brought the area under constant surveillance with the installation of CCTV cameras and the introduction of drone cameras, deploying beat constables with smart jackets that have cameras attached to their bodies. In view of the festival shopping season, police watch towers have been established in seven locations and monitoring CCTV units have been installed in eight locations. All arrangements have been made to ensure safety of the public who throng the area for shopping.”
Mini-control rooms
The police have also opened mini-control rooms and booths in three locations and police assistance booths in five places with Mambalam and Soundarapandianar Angadi police station limits.
Similar security arranagements will be in place in commercial areas such as Purasawalkam, Washermanpet, Velachery and Tambaram, the police said.
