Salem: In order to bring the crime into the limelight and to apprehend the criminals who involve themselves in illegal activities and also to prevent crime from taking place the Salem City police have taken the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance network as a solution. In order to install these CCTV cameras various options are being considered besides installing them through various government schemes. The most important efforts are to encourage these camera set up at various points in the city through public participation. The encouragement is given to Residents’ associations and trade bodies to install road-facing cameras on their premises. The installation of the CCTV cameras itself according to the police is a deterrent for crimes as the camera’s presence itself would prevent crimes from taking place. The concept of prevention is better than identifying the criminals once the crime has taken place detecting through CCTV cameras. This will deter anti-social elements from committing crimes. A fear is built within the criminals that with CCTV visuals, they could be identified and nabbed, Deputy Police Commissioner (Crime and Traffic) Mr. S. Senthil said. The police said in addition to the Kavalan Sevai Maiyam they have installed 24 cameras in Old Sooramangalam Post area at a cost of Rs. 10 lakhs. As the population of the police personal in comparison with the population of Salem has a drastic difference as the population of Salem is close to 10 lakh and the number of police personal is 1500. Early detection of crime is possible with the installation of the CCTV cameras, Deputy Police Commissioner (Law and Order) Mr. P. Thangadurai said. The process of installation of CCTV cameras are being carried out at Kannankurichi, Hasthampatti, Fairlands and on the premises of New bus stand. In addition to the 200 cameras installed by the Salem city police under the modernisation programme, there are about 16,000 CCTV cameras across Salem city which has been installed by various Residents’ Associations and traders, Mr. Thangadurai said. ]]>
