The Cuddalore district police in Tamil Nadu have embarked on widening the remote surveillance network, Third Eye, across the district to ensure “foolproof monitoring” and for real-time action against criminals and traffic rule violators.
As many as 1,000 closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) with high resolution are being installed at various points within the jurisdiction of the police sub-divisions in Cuddalore, Panruti, Chidambaram, Sethiyathope, Neyveli, Vriddhachalam and Thittakudi in addition to the existing ones at various vantage points to bring more areas, mainly busy traffic junctions, under surveillance.
“A private firm empanelled by the government has begun work on installation of the CCTVs and the work is expected to be completed in a month’s time. The funds sanctioned by the elected representatives in the district under the MLA LAD (Local Area Development) scheme would be used for installing CCTVs in all the nine assembly segments – Cuddalore, Panruti, Neyveli, Kurunjipadi, Chidambaram, Bhuvanagiri, Kattumannarkovil, Vriddhachalam and Thittakudi,” a police officer said.
The CCTVs would serve as a deterrent to crimes and also help in detection, the officer said. Not once, but many times, the surveillance devices had come in handy for the police to solve crime cases. Recently, the Vriddhachalam police identified the accused involved in the theft of three gold-plated kalasams in the Virudhagireeswar temple through CCTV.
“All the CCTVs will be integrated with the respective police stations in the seven subdivisions and the footage can be accessed live by police officials from their mobile phones. The initiative would help officers to rush to the scene and detect crime with ease. The cameras are equipped with 8 K resolution and night vision and the backup lasts for about 30 days,” the officer said.
A camera at a traffic junction could collect many details, including the registration number of vehicles, he added. Meanwhile, steps are also being taken to repair or replace the non-functional cameras at various locations, including suburbs.
