The Kerala police are set to assume the role of a remote but potent watchman, offering 24-hour security cover to homes and businesses under their jurisdiction from a central facility in the capital.
The ambitious scheme mooted by State Police Chief Loknath Behera entails remotely linking surveillance cameras, intrusion detection systems, movement sensors, and fire alarms installed on private premises in Kerala to a proposed Central Intrusion Monitoring System (CIMS) at the State Police Headquarters here. Keltron will implement the project.
In the event of a break-in, the sensors will route the distress signal to the CIMS. Law enforcers at the police facility will analyse video and audio images from the scene of crime and gauge and execute the police response. Keltron will integrate the CIMS with the law enforcement’s GIS-based Crime Mapping System (CMS).
The system empowers police emergency responders and dispatch officers at Control Rooms to know the real-time location of police assets, including patrol vehicles, on a digital map of the State. The CIMS could drastically reduce response time by directing the nearest police van or motorcycle patrol to the crime scene without having to re-route the alarm to the most nearby station house for an adequate response.
Other than private homes, the police expect banks, 3,000 odd ATMs, 200 government treasuries, 3,000 primary cooperative banks, currency exchange centres, jewellery and electronic showrooms and other high-value businesses to avail themselves of the security cover for a nominal annual fee that the government decides. Keltron will provide the technical expertise and consultancy if need be.
Panic buttons
Subscribers could disarm the system when they open for business and arm it when they close shop. The police have also proposed that financial institutions stocking currency and gold install panic buttons or bars linked to the proposed CIMS to deter armed intrusions and heists.