There has been a clear admission on the part of the Director General of Police (DGP) that over 50 per cent of the 350-odd CCTV cameras installed by State government are not working. It will be difficult for the government to wriggle out of this, as the DGP said this publicly and asserted that the findings on which he based the statement came from a survey that he had initiated. What this indicates, and here too it is the DGP who is speaking, is that in the case of CCTVs not working, then analysis and monitoring of the data cannot be undertaken.
What use is it then to have CCTV cameras installed in public places if they are not being maintained, to the point that half of those that have been mounted are not working? Isn’t this a gross negligence on the part of the government and also a waste of the tax-payers money? Another rather pertinent question related to this is whether the State, with an area of 3702 square kilometres and a population of approximately over 15 lakh has just 350 CCTV cameras installed by the government. Are these enough for the security purposes that these are expected to provide?
Goa has been very tardy with the installation of CCTV cameras, despite the fact that such equipment in public places is today a core component of the overall security strategy in any State across the world. Whether it be in tackling crime and keeping tabs on the movement of criminals, or simply to monitor the traffic situation and book those breaking traffic rules, CCTV cameras are playing an important role. CCTV cameras provide indisputable visual evidence in the case of crime. One cannot, however, just limit the use of CCTV systems to merely traffic and crime, but the larger perspective of this being a manner to reduce the risk of terrorism has to play a role in hastening up the installation of the systems.
The police have on several occasions utilised the footage of CCTV cameras installed by private persons to zero in on criminals in cases of thefts or other crime. This is indicative that there aren’t enough public CCTV cameras installed. Yet, even these private systems are not enough. The DGP, stating that hardly 500 shops and residences have such systems installed, asked private parties to aim at least one camera on the road. This would be to capture what is happening outside the homes or business establishments, but this can only be a request and citizens can’t be mandated to install cameras to capture images from the road.
Since the number of private CCTV cameras is low, it is important that the State steps in and installs such systems where they are missing. However, merely having these cameras set up in public places will not suffice and the human angle plays a vital role, as without proper human monitoring of the footage the CCTVs would turn ineffective even if they are all working. And, here’s another question: even if just 50 per cent of the cameras are functioning, is the footage collected by these cameras being analysed and then being acted upon? The utility of the cameras will be proved only when there is proper analysis of the data collected.
Tackling crime may be one component, but CCTVs are also part of a smarter system of working. Currently the CCTV system is being used to detect suspects of crime after it has been committed. CCTVs can provide real-time surveillance and be used for crime prevention, helping the authorities to identify potential crimes and act to prevent law and order incidents. It is when the CCTV camera systems get utilised for this that it can be said, the programme is a success.
