In an effort to prevent crime effectively and catch lawbreakers, Bhopal Police is going to follow in the footsteps of its counterparts in Gujarat and launched three mobile applications, ‘Bhopal Eye’, ‘Atithi’ and ‘eProCop’- which seeks to involve city residents in crime detection and better policing. While ‘Bhopal Eye’ will keep a close eye on the anti-social elements, using the live feed from CCTV cameras fitted outside the resident’s buildings, schools, colleges, private hospitals, offices, showrooms as well as petrol pumps, eProCop app is meant for internal information sharing and monitoring history-sheeters in the city.
The mobile application, ‘Bhopal Eye’, has been developed by an Indore-based software company. It is already available on the Google play store and is in the testing phase. Once the user downloads it, they will have to register with their mobile number and email ID. After completing the registration process, they will have to fill in the camera details like the location on the premises and share the URL link. eProCop App is basically designed for internal use by police for effective policing.
It will help in tracking, monitoring and mapping the activity of listed criminals, beat wise. Atithi app is basically the Online Citizen Visitor Record Management System (OCVRMS), where all the hotels, lodges, hostels and guest houses will have to register and upload details of their guests. Atithi app has been developed by state crime record bureau to help police maintain the record of people visiting city. Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Nishchal Jharia, said that the importance of CCTV cameras in crime detection can be understood by the fact that almost all major crime cases cracked in the past six months were solved with the help of private CCTV cameras.
It is a fact that burglars avoid targeting houses and colonies which are under CCTV surveillance. DIG Wali said, “This initiative is aimed to instill fear among anti-social elements and a sense of security among people. ‘Bhopal Eye’ app will increase people’s participation in policing. Police officials have formed WhatsApp groups of various organisations who agreed to share their CCTV camera feed with cops.”
