The Kolkata police commissioner on Saturday encouraged people to install CCTV cameras on private premises.
These cameras may not be able to prevent a crime but can help police in detecting one, Vineet Kumar Goyal said.
“We encourage citizens to take care of their own premises and it helps us. Many cases have been detected because private owners had cameras installed,” Goyal said. “These cameras are of great help. It is fine even if they are standalone cameras and not connected to the police network.”
Goyal was responding to queries from members of Bharat Chamber of Commerce during an interaction.
“It really doesn’t mean much for us to connect a hundred thousand cameras to our network. Nobody can monitor so many cameras. But if cameras can record movements outside one’s premises then they serve as deterrents,” he said.
Senior police officers said recordings from standalone cameras have helped them detect several crimes in the recent past, like the murder of a 61-year-old jeweller in Postalast March. The CCTV footage of the assassins had helped police trace the three prime accused to Agra and recover gold and silver jewellery worth close to Rs 2.8 crore.
On Saturday, Goyal said another 3,000 cameras will be installed across the city soon..
“Some 1,000 cameras would be installed within a month. And the remaining within a year or so. The main roads are generally covered. These will be on the lanes and bylanes,” Goyal said.