Nexus of Good: Eyes on the streets

It is now evident that use of technology can transform governance. What has been attempted by this young Superintendent of Police, Mohit Garg, in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh proves this point. The model that he has put in place through public-private partnership is a true example of Nexus of Good that can be replicated in other districts to control crime. Mohit, along with his committed team, took the following steps:

✼ A survey of all the CCTV cameras installed in public spaces was done to map their locations and to create a master database of the entire district. The survey included details of the owners (in case of cameras installed in private establishments), status of operation, power supply, storage backup, clarity and angle of camera feed etc. Once the survey was complete, repair and maintenance were done for 150+ cameras and meetings with owners of private establishments were done along with in-charges of respective Police Stations and Police Outposts to encourage them to improve power and storage backups and to correct camera feeds.

District Police enrolled services of a local CCTV technician to ensure continuous monitoring and servicing of the installed cameras as well as to conduct surveys for upcoming installations. To speed up the identification and repair of OFC faults and breakages, district police purchased Optical Time Domain Reflectometer and Core Alignment Fusion Splicer machines. Coordination meetings with DM, CEO Zila Panchayat, Commissioner Nagar Palik Nigam, concerned in-charge of Public Works Department (PWD), National Highways (NH), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB), Road Transport Office (RTO) etc. were taken to install electricity poles with power connection; speed breakers and rumble strips in identified areas to improve power back up and detection abilities of CCTV cameras installed and under pipeline.

✼ After the first phase of survey of already installed cameras and their repairs were completed, second phase of survey was conducted to identify critical junctions and spots where CCTV cameras (varifocal, PTZ, ANPR) would be installed to augment the grid that would be connected to a centralised control room established in SP office to effectively supervise the monitoring of CCTV grid. A requirement of total of 385 new cameras was mapped out costing about Rs 1.5 crore including accessories, installation, AMC for 7 years, server, integrated display and modern control room setup.

✼ The existing traffic signals were repaired and a requirement study for new traffic signals in city was conducted based on current traffic congestion points, anticipated traffic congestion points, accident prone junctions, black and grey spots. On the basis of its report, 7 new sites were identified and earmarked for setting up of new traffic signals in the city. All the 10 traffic signals were to be equipped with ANPR and varifocal cameras to facilitate e-challan as well as for investigation and detection of crimes. The estimated cost of these installations was about Rs. 1.4 crore. After the installation was complete, coordination meeting with the District Judge was conducted to apprise the judiciary about the progress of these new initiatives and to seek their support for e-challan. The judiciary not only appreciated the initiatives but also acknowledged their impact on controlling traffic congestion in the city and extended full support for the e-challan program.

✼ The district police control room was the only unit in the district that was operational 24*7 and that was equipped to coordinate law enforcement units and their patrolling units with emergency response services like 108 and 102 medical services, fire emergency services, natural disaster response services etc. as well as other departments like municipalities, gram panchayats, electricity, education, food services etc. The modern integrated CCTV control room had the ability to make public announcements through speakers attached with the CCTV cameras installed which were very helpful to dissipate unruly crowds. The operational control room of the district was also shifted to this premises to integrate both CCTV monitoring and police control room. With additional resources like GPS-tracked 112 police helpline and patrolling vehicles, highway patrolling vehicles etc., the integrated control room became further resourceful and efficient in maintaining public order, detection and investigation of crimes and improving traffic management.

The CCTVs installed earlier were not equipped with AI tools like Face Detection/Recognition, Vehicle Tracking, Movement Sensing etc., neither was there any centralised server system connecting all the cameras having capability to run certified ITMS applications integrated with ANPR cameras, speed radar guns etc. to detect people riding two-wheelers without helmets, jumping red light signals, over speeding, tripling etc. Project Trinetra took care of all these requirements with installation of modern AI enabled cameras, face recognition and database, vehicle recognition and tracking, movement sensors etc. to aid the control room personnel and establish a connection with centralised server to add a layer of data redundancy by saving extra copies in form of movement sensed clips from all cameras and to run additional traffic management and e-challan applications to reduce the burden on traffic police personnel.

✼ The first phase of ITMS under project Trinetra focused primarily on Rajnandgaon city, with planning of 7 additional traffic signals, 385 additional CCTV cameras, speed radar guns etc. In addition to the new setup, the old setup of 3 traffic signal lights and 152 cameras also needed to be repaired, upgraded and made operational. This required an estimated budget of about Rs 3 crores. As such budget was not readily available from the government, extensive meetings with various departments of district administration, elected representatives, members of chamber of commerce, members of civil society, media etc. were conducted to create a public partnership model that could sustain such capital expenditure and also create a working model for extension of project Trinetra to suburbs and rural pockets of the district as well as to other blocks. After initial hiccups, these meetings were very successful, especially after continuous publication (not just in regular print and electronic media but also social media) of achievements of district police in reducing accidents and deaths; and in solving cases of murder, thefts, burglaries, hit and run etc. With increased confidence in proposed project Trinetra, district police found partners for installation of 7 new traffic signal lights and repair of old 3 traffic signal lights in the local advertising agency and Nagar Palik Nigam. For CCTV cameras and integrated control rooms, chambers of commerce and civil society came forward and promised to contribute the entire cost of the setup, making it the first ever such project without any government or CSR funding.

Outcome

More than 100 cases of murders, thefts, dacoities, loot, accidents, fights, breach of law and order etc. were successfully solved in seven months using the CCTV cameras installed in and around the city. Most of these cases were solved within days of the occurrence of crime with close to 100 per cent recoveries in property offences and arrest of criminals involved, giving a major boost to the confidence of the public in district police. This further increased the participation of the public in installation of CCTVs under project Trinetra and paved the way for the next phase of the project with focus on encouraging individuals to install CCTV cameras in/outside their homes and establishments.

Views expressed are personal