Bhubaneswar: In a bid to monitor the conduct of police personnel and complainants, the commissionerate police on Sunday initiated a pilot project as part of which the police official at the reception desk in the police stations will be equipped with body cameras.
The body cameras will help police observe the activities of the visitors, particularly troublemakers, inside the police stations. The body cameras will capture audio and video at the press of the button, recording the activities of both the police personnel and visitors.
The initiative is designed to address unruly behaviour at various police stations. The video will be directly accessible by the assistant commissioner of police and deputy commissioner of police to ensure transparency.
“Police personnel have been instructed to be courteous, empathetic and to act in accordance with the law in their interactions. This initiative will enable police to document inappropriate behaviour by some visitors,” DCP Pinak Mishra said.
He added that body cameras will provide real-time alerts to the control room, enhancing the response. “The audio-visual recordings will be retained for at least one month. We are in the process of upgrading the existing body cameras to make them state-of-the-art,” Mishra said. On Sunday, additional police commissioner Uma Shankar Mishra visited the Kharvela police station in Bhubaneswar and inspected the functioning of the new devices.
Earlier, the traffic personnel in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack were equipped with body cameras. In September, an Army officer and his fiancé were allegedly assaulted by policemen at Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar. In the incident, five police officers, including the inspector in-charge of the police station, were suspended.
In Oct a drunk woman was seen misbehaving with the police at Khandagiri police station. The entire incident was captured on a mobile phone. In the incident, the commissionerate police have filed a complaint against the woman and initiated action.