Bengaluru traffic police to get 150 high-resolution body cameras

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) will soon get 150 body cameras as part of a central government scheme for modernisation of government offices. This project will have a Rs 1.5 crore budget. The cameras attached to the shirt button can be operated by the traffic police and can record for eight hours. They are currently being procured and the police are likely to start using them in three months, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Admin) Nisha James.

“The officers will wear the cameras to ensure proper action against traffic rule violators. The old ones had very little recording and memory capacity, while the new ones will have features like Bluetooth,” said Narayan M, DCP Traffic (East). Nisha said that the camera will have a 1280 x 720 HD resolution, with both audio and video capabilities. Two types of cameras -- ‘Bullet Body Worn’ and ‘Button Body Worn’ -- being procured will have a low-light capacity of .0001 lux. While the button camera will have a field of view of -100 degrees, bullet camera will have over -120 degrees. 

In January 2017, when 50 body-mounted cameras were launched with much fanfare when R Hitendra was the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), traffic police inspectors had used these cameras at nights and during weekends. But over the next few months, the body cams were forgotten and the traffic police went back to their old ways of catching traffic rule violators. Several traffic police inspectors said that some of the cameras are not in working condition now.

The 50 body cams had been procured at an estimated cost of Rs 75 lakh and later, another 90 were delivered in December 2018. These cameras were given to Ashok Nagar, Cubbon Park, High Grounds, Shivajinagar, Ulsoor, Upparpet and Wilson Garden police stations.