As many as 60 police stations and four control rooms in the Union Territory will soon have Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras installed, to ensure transparency in the functioning of the law enforcement agency.
The decision to install cameras was taken following a direction from the Supreme Court to all States and Union Territories to install cameras with night-vision facility at all police stations with provision for storing data for at least 12 months to enable speedy probes into complaints of custodial torture and human rights violations.
“We have called for tenders to install cameras at all police stations across the UT. The bidders for installing the cameras will be finalised in a few weeks. The plan is to have cameras at all police stations by the year end,” a senior police officer told The Hindu.
A rough calculation by the Home Department showed that overall, around 600 cameras need to be procured for installation in the police stations and control rooms. The cameras will be installed at the entry and exit points, corridors, male/female lock-up room, interrogation room, rear side, outside wash rooms and toilets and rooms of the Station House Officer, the officer said.
“Depending on the size, topography and the number of rooms the cameras will be installed. Each police station will have six to nine cameras. The cameras should be equipped with night vision and audio-cum-video footage. The cameras will be installed using the UT’s own fund amounting to around ₹2 crore,” he added.
The CCTVs would be connected to the offices of high-level police officers, he added.
