Collective effort makes ‘Third Eye’ a reality

The Tamil saying oor koodi therr izhuthal means people coming together for a cause to make it successful. The city has witnessed this when the public, traders, shopkeepers and several associations pitched in with their contributions to bring the entire cityscape under CCTV surveillance through the ‘Third Eye’ project of the Greater Chennai Police.

The task that seemed impossible when it was announced in the beginning of 2018. However, it became a reality by the end of the year. From June, the Commissioner of Police has launched the functioning of CCTV cameras across all the police districts in the city. This meant that police need not check if individuals have installed cameras in their houses to get clues about suspects when a crime takes place in a locality. While there were only 40,000 private CCTV cameras before 2018, now there are more than 2 lakh cameras with all the main roads and junctions coming under the surveillance.

When Central Chennai MP SR Vijayakumar visited Kancheepuram about 11 months ago, he noticed a street that was entirely under CCTV surveillance. He wanted to replicate the idea in his constituency and approached the city police commissioner AK Viswanathan. After he assured to provide Rs 1 crore from constituency development fund, the Commissioner held a meeting with MPs of North and South Chennai and discussed installation of CCTV cameras across the city. “We suggested that private firms and various traders’ associations can be approached to fund the project. But the Commissioner has taken it to a different level as a campaign,” said Vijayakumar.

The Police Department believed that the vision could be achieved only with the support of the public, said the Flower Bazaar Assistant Commissioner Lakshmanan. “The Commissioner asked us to conduct separate awareness campaigns for individuals, shop owners and businessmen. We held talks with the public and even went on door-to-door campaigns. We convinced them that CCTV cameras are yet another safety equipment just like lock and key. The response was largely positive and the people understood it was for their own safety,” he added.  Flower Bazaar is one the first districts where CCTV cameras were inaugurated. While individuals were advised to keep one CCTV camera facing the road at their houses, funds from various associations were used to cover public places with dedicated control rooms. “Initially, the instruction was to cover the important junctions which then expanded to street corners and then to streets,” he noted.

Neelankarai, which is one of the VIP localities, has more than 2,000 cameras which is the highest number under a police station limit. The credit goes to the contributors and sponsors. “To set up a control room, we sought contributions from important personalities who in the form of cameras or wires, poles, switches, TVs etc. Actors like Vijay and Ajith, producers and advocates also contributed for the cause. However, we didn’t receive money from anyone. Setting up a CCTV camera costs about Rs 8,000 and we had to convince the sponsors to buy the necessary equipment. There are people who got us wires for a length of 1 kilometre. The CCTV set up in the locality is worth Rs 1.5 crore. Our work will continue,” said Neelankarai Assistant Commissioner Srinivasalu.

Flower Bazaar Assistant Commissioner said the CCTV cameras helps them in three ways – they act as a deterrent helping to reduce crimes, to detect the crimes and also to filter the fake complaints.

“If a person lodges a complaint that his bike was stolen from a parking lot in Flower Bazaar, we have to record his complaint and give him an CSR without any verification earlier. We wouldn’t know if the complaint was fake to illegally apply for insurance. But now we can check the CCTV footage in the locality to detect whether he actually lost his bike there. If yes, it also helps to identify who stole it,” he said.

Speaking to DT Next on what was the impetus for the campaign, Commissioner AK Viswanathan said that the time was ripe. “The technology was available at a cheaper cost and people realised its importance. The drive would not have been possible five years ago,” he said. In the beginning of the drive, there were 40,000 cameras in different parts of the city and 1.4 lakh additional cameras were installed in the last six months.  “Though the major roads are covered, we want to make sure that the number crosses 3 lakh this year. This would mean that there would be at least one camera for every 50 metres. The ultimate aim is to install 5 lakh cameras and the work will go on,” said the Commissioner.

The city police have received nearly Rs 113 crore from various funds, including the Nirbhaya fund, for the cause. “The department’s own CCTV network with video walls at control rooms and also for senior officers will be established using the funds. It will be an advanced network with better cameras and facilities,” said the Commissioner. He added that the existing system has already put the miscreants on the defensive. “Initially, there was a scepticism around the project. After both police personnel and public started seeing the results, the paced picked. Police personnel in particular realised that surveillance cameras make their job easier. It gives the police officers the initial clue about a case, giving them the edge over suspects. However, the project needs a few more months to measure its effectiveness in terms of numbers,” he said.

While CCTV cameras have helped to crack several crime cases, a few incidents showed why the police can’t trust them blindly. Recently, the city police mistook a group of youngsters for bike thieves based on the CCTV footage. It turned out that they tried to turn the cameras towards a bike as their friend had lost the vehicle’s key. After police circulated their images on WhatsApp, the youngsters visited the police station and how the police’s act humiliated them. Later, the City Police Commissioner 

AK Viswanathan met the four youngsters - Shahruk (23), Salman, Rizwan Basha and Habib - in his office and asked them not to tamper with CCTV cameras.