Cops to keep closer watch on traffic offenders

“We would build a state-of-the-art traffic control room along with the IP surveillance system. This would facilitate the citizens to obtain immediate help from the police in case of theft or for the police to track vehicles of people at major junctions in the city,” said Manoj Patil,DCP (traffic).

Patil said that the system would be able to check the presence of vehicles,stop red light violations,traffic flow or congestion,parking violations etc. It will also be able to handle one way traffic situations,estimate traffic volume on various city roads with statistical counts which would help the police know how many vehicles pass though a road at a particular time,check people who are loitering around and detect vehicles driving in the wrong way.

“We would also be able to check for unattended objects,capture faces and number plates. The system would help in protecting thefts. Various police stations in the city would also be able to track the vehicles,people with the help of this system,” he said.

Vijay Palsule,police inspector,traffic planning said that the system would help the police maintain law and order situations,crime prevention and detection by the use of this system. The traffic police will also use this system for road traffic management and rule enforcement in the city. “We can control the traffic situation by monitoring the junctions with the help of I P surveillance cameras,” he said.

“We would also be installing cameras on five vehicles,which would form a surveillance fleet of patrol vehilces. These vehicles would move throughout the city and track traffic offenders. We would be able to conduct surprise drives against traffic offenders,and also reduce arguments between the motorists and the police,as cameras would provide the proof of traffic rule violation. In addition,we would able to man our staff deputed at various places in the city,” said Patil.

According to Palsule,the cameras would also be able to track vehicles in windy conditions as they would be equipped with electronic image stabiliser. They would work during the day and would tilt and pan automatically in the direction of the vehicle,so that it would be known which road the vehicle has taken,this would be useful when the police need to track traffic offenders and criminals driving away in their cars.

“We plan to integrate this system with the video camera system installed by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC),subject to their permissions. In this way,police outreach in the city will increase,” said Patil.