All 99 surveillance cameras in Kochi dead since 2018: Police

KOCHI: At a time when policing and crime investigation processes are adopting new technologies, all surveillance cameras at traffic junctions and other important places in Kochi have been dysfunctional for the past two years, according to the city police’s reply to a Right to Information Act query from activist Raju Vazhakala. The Kochi City Police control room informed him that all surveillance cameras have been dead since 2018.

According to the RTI reply, the police have installed 99 surveillance cameras — including fixed and Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) dome cameras — in various parts of Kochi. These cameras are installed at busy places and traffic junctions. They became dysfunctional between July 15 and December 12 in 2018, the police said.  Unfortunately, even cameras installed at crowded places like major bus and railway stations, markets, and religious places are not functioning.

“It is quite surprising that not even a single police surveillance camera is functioning in a city like Kochi. It is a major flaw on the part of the police. Though these cameras are mainly intended to take action against traffic law violators, they have also helped in solving several sensitive cases. So the police should take the initiative to rectify all the cameras without any further delay,” Raju Vazhakala told TNIE. 

However, the Kochi City Police is hopeful that it would get around 500 cameras under the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), which is part of the Smart City project. The police have identified spots to install cameras under ITMS. The CCTV cameras of the police were installed by Keltron in 2008. Later, frequent issues developed regarding their maintenance.

In 2011-12, the camera connections were disrupted while preparatory work was progressing for the implementation of the Kochi Metro project. Currently, due to the work on the Smart City project, several cameras have been removed. They will be installed soon, said an official.  “When the maintenance-related issues with Keltron were sorted out, the cameras could not be operated due to various infrastructure-related projects in Kochi,” said an official with the police control room.