Police want all public spaces in state
covered by CCTV
Margao: The state
government has veered around to the view that electronic surveillance system in public
areas needs to be strengthened for effective crime detection. The statement
made by PWD minister Ramkrishna 'Sudin' Dhavalikar that "CCTV cameras would be
installed on all roads - including highways, district roads and village roads -
connecting them to RTO offices, police stations and hospitals", gives a
sense of the government's seriousness about the issue.
The advisory issued by the South Goa police asking house owners to install CCTV cameras also points to the fact that the investigating agencies look at electronic surveillance as an essential investigative tool in crime detection.
It may be noted that DGP Muktesh Chander had strongly advocated the need for strengthening electronic surveillance system in the state, while speaking to reporters after the police had cracked the desecration cases on July 15 and arrested taxi driver Francis Pereira.
"I have (put before) the authorities that more CCTV cameras are needed all across the state at public places, such as important markets, for surveillance, crime prevention and detection. Those that aren't functioning must be repaired," Chander had then said, while admitting that "if we had several such CCTV cameras in places like Curchorem, Margao and other places, where desecration incidents happened, we could have solved this case much earlier."
Police sources agree that the need of CCTV cameras in crime investigations and detection has been acutely felt by the law enforcers in the investigations of desecration incidents. In the few cases where CCTV cameras were installed in the vicinity of the incident spots, sources pointed out that they were found to be non-functional, largely owing to non-maintenance.
The advisory issued by the South Goa police asking house owners to install CCTV cameras also points to the fact that the investigating agencies look at electronic surveillance as an essential investigative tool in crime detection.
It may be noted that DGP Muktesh Chander had strongly advocated the need for strengthening electronic surveillance system in the state, while speaking to reporters after the police had cracked the desecration cases on July 15 and arrested taxi driver Francis Pereira.
"I have (put before) the authorities that more CCTV cameras are needed all across the state at public places, such as important markets, for surveillance, crime prevention and detection. Those that aren't functioning must be repaired," Chander had then said, while admitting that "if we had several such CCTV cameras in places like Curchorem, Margao and other places, where desecration incidents happened, we could have solved this case much earlier."
Police sources agree that the need of CCTV cameras in crime investigations and detection has been acutely felt by the law enforcers in the investigations of desecration incidents. In the few cases where CCTV cameras were installed in the vicinity of the incident spots, sources pointed out that they were found to be non-functional, largely owing to non-maintenance.
TOI
had earlier pointed out that though CCTV cameras were installed
with much fanfare in many parts of South Goa, they went out of order within
months of their installation, and in some cases like in Curchorem, even before
their launch.
The CCTV monitoring room at the South Goa police headquarters that was abuzz with activity not long ago, is now lying defunct with all the cameras now non-functional. Sources informed that almost all the 33 CCTV cameras installed at various places in Margao city have stopped functioning and are in need of repairs. The agency which was to provide after sales service for maintenance of the CCTVs stopped attending to the complaints upon expiry of the two-year free service period, as no annual maintenance contract was signed with the agency.
While the CCTV cameras were financed by the MPLAD scheme, no provision was made for the maintenance of the system, sources informed. The issue came to the fore at the recent meeting of the Margao Municipal Council, when it was pointed out that the South Goa collector has written to the civic body to take care of the CCTV cameras' maintenance. The issue has remained inconclusive.
In Curchorem, the police had installed 63 CCTV cameras at 20 locations across Curchorem two years ago. However, for reasons best known to the authorities, the equipments for the CCTV surveillance system costing over Rs 70 lakh and also funded under the MPLAD scheme, started gathering dust at Curchorem from day one.
Reference: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/police-want-all-public-spaces-in-state-covered-by-cctv/articleshow/60399550.cms
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