Indian Museum upgrades security with AI-enabled CCTV cameras amid Global Museum Heist Concerns

Kolkata: In a major move to upgrade its security systems, the Indian Museum has begun installing AI-enabled CCTV cameras across its premises. “We have cameras that have the power of motion detection. But now, we have started moving to cameras that are equipped with AI-based human detection, and hence we have begun the gradual installation of such cameras. These cameras have modern analytics that can detect movement of a specific person in the camera, whether somebody is coming repeatedly and other intricate movements through proper scanning of the footage. We are installing such modern AI cameras in the museum in a phase-wise manner for further boost of security,” said Arijit Dutta Choudhury, Director of Indian Museum (IM).

According to Dutta Choudhury, the museum has over 700 CCTV cameras and over 20 per cent of these cameras have already been upgraded. “It should be borne in mind that these cameras too are not perennial, considering the rapid technological advancement, and we have to constantly upgrade them for a security boost,” he added. Founded in 1814, the IM is the earliest and the largest multipurpose Museum not only in the Indian subcontinent but also in the Asia-Pacific region of the world. The Indian Museum houses a collection of 1.08 lakh artefacts, of which only 5 to 6 per cent are on display at any given time. To give visitors a glimpse of more items, the museum rotates the exhibits periodically. It comprises 24 galleries, featuring sections on art, anthropology, and archaeology, as well as galleries dedicated to the Botanical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India, and Geological Survey of India.

An incident of theft had taken place in IM in 2004 when a Buddha sandstone bust was stolen. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had taken up the investigation of the case but was unable to make any breakthrough. The matter had gone to the Supreme Court, which had prodded the Centre for the deployment of CISF security at IM. Museum security across the globe, including India, has again become the point of contention following the act of daring heist last Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum Louvre Museum in Paris.