Thiruvananthapuram, June 10, BPNS
Now the district borders and landing points in the state will be secured with cameras having a facial recognition system (FCR) and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system. The new facilities being planned by the Kerala Police are expected to bolster its efforts in traffic monitoring and crime prevention. The new project listed under the annual plan of the police department for 2022-23 comes for an amount of four crores. The department also plans to link the database of all these surveillance cameras centrally.
As per the plan proposal, surveillance cameras with FCR and ANPR facilities will first come up at Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam Rural, Kozhikode Rural, and Kannur Rural.
“Kerala shares borders with the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It became necessary to keep an extra vigil on the districts bordering the neighboring states. It’s based on this understanding that such surveillance cameras were being installed. Though there are such cameras in some places. The plan is to install them widely. It will give a shot in the arm for enforcement activities,” said a police official.
Through ANPR cameras a vehicle’s registration number is read and instantly checked against database records of vehicles of interest, FCR cameras will help in identifying absconding criminals or missing persons.
“ANPR cameras will help in the detection of many offenses. It includes vehicles that defy traffic rules, locating stolen vehicles, tackling uninsured vehicle use, and solving cases of terrorism, and major and organized crimes. It will detect and capture images/license numbers of all types of vehicles moving on the road, with speed information. The system works fully automatically during day and night conditions,” reads an excerpt of the document from Keltron.
According to it, such cameras will capture all vehicles passing through the installed location with vehicle images and numbers including two-wheelers. It will send such readings kept to the database for real-time alerts/ search for crime analysis. Vehicle images are captured even if the number is not automatically detected in cases like damaged/ unreadable license plates or even in the absence of number plates.
In the case of FRS, it will look for suspects, offenders, and those who have gone missing. For this, it will be connected to the police database of known and suspected offenders and missing persons. Once they get captured by such cameras, the system will alert the concerned. It is also learned that it will even recognize such persons/offenders even after years if they change their looks by undergoing surgery.
