Facial recognition system to boost security in Tirupati

Plans afoot to implement manual monitoring and integration of technology components

he automated facial and number plate recognition, often portrayed in Hollywood spy movies, will soon become a reality in the temple city. Japanese IT and networking solutions provider NEC, along with the Tirupati Urban Police, are planning to implement these features as a part of the ‘Safe City – Tirupati’ project in 2016, creating a ‘smart policing system’ for the officials.

The present surveillance is done through the 185 CCTV cameras installed at major junctions of the city and they are continuously monitored by the officials at the 'Command and Control Centre' in Tirupati East Police Station. While the traffic violations are noted down for further action i.e., generation of e-challans, criminal offences and other disturbances are immediately relayed to the concerned officials . This is the preliminary outcome of the first phase of ‘Safe City – Tirupati’ project.

In the second and third phases, the officials are planning to automate this manual monitoring and integrate all technology components into a central operations centre, to enable the police officials in offering better services to the denizens. The tech-savvy Tirupati Urban Police Department is currently leading the pack, among government agencies, with regular updates on the social media. Speaking to

The Hindu , Tirupati Urban Superintendent of Police Gopinath Jatti asserted that the implementation of the new system would go a long way in strengthening the surveillance measures of Tirupati.

“The present surveillance system has yielded a favourable outcome, with several success stories. Its integration with video analytics and other related software will augment the non-intrusive measures and reduction of manpower, not only in enforcing traffic rules but also the security aspects in one of the most busiest pilgrimage destinations in the country,” he maintained.

Mr. Jatti further remarked that automatic e-challans could be sent to the traffic violators based on the number plate recognition, besides tracing of criminals or wanted offenders via facial recognition software. “The revamped city surveillance system will have many uses such as vehicle tracking, alerts to police officials in case of disturbances and upon identification of criminals, presence of unidentified objects and much more. We are further planning to restructure them based on our requirements,” he added.

Recently, the NEC team along with police officials visited the routes leading from airport and important junctions of the city, including Garuda Circle, 150ft. Bypass Road upto Chandragiri, Leelamahal, Karakambadi and beyond . After a review meetings with the police department, NEC team will be submitting a report to the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Integration of surveillance system with video analytics will augment non-intrusive measures of security, says Tirupati Urban SP