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Roving Eye tames policemen

Special Correspondent

Cops being watched round-the-clock through closed circuit television cameras

JAIPUR: Cops in Udaipur city of Rajasthan have learnt their lesson in putting their best foot forward -- showing politeness and improving their behaviour with people, thanks to the Project Roving Eye which has brought all the 10 police stations in the town under a unique camera surveillance.

For the first time, policemen in the City of Lakes are being watched round-the-clock through the close circuit television cameras connected to the office of the Superintendent of Police. Senior police officers can now directly monitor how the cops are attending to complainants and dealing with criminals.

The project, formally inaugurated by Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria this past week, entails installation of cameras in the reception room, duty room, record room and even the lock-up in the police stations, where the activities of cops can be monitored.

Udaipur SP M.N. Dinesh told The Hindu on Tuesday that the signals from the cameras first go to the office of in-charge of police station and are then transmitted by radio frequency to the SP's office. The SP can monitor at any given time the proceedings inside any of these stations and can even attend to people's complaints directly.

Mr. Dinesh said this was the first project of its kind in the country, aimed at improving the police-public interaction. "Little wonder that cops have suddenly smartened up. They are not only polite to visitors, but also offer a glass of water and a cup of tea to them,'' he said.

The success of the novel project lies in the transparency brought to the functioning of police, which has drastically reduced the complaints such as absence of policemen from duty, cops found drunk on duty and cops misbehaving with the complainants.

"Sitting in my office, I can see what is happening in police stations across the city and monitor how policemen are behaving with the public,'' said Mr. Dinesh.

He said one of the advantages of installing cameras in the lock-ups was that the attempts by the accused to cause injuries to themselves or commit suicide could be stopped.

With the low-price technology involved in the system's installation -- the establishing cost is just Rs. 4 lakh -- the police stations in the radius of 15 to 20 km can be easily linked with the project.

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Roving Eye tames policemen

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