PANAJI
Goa lacks CCTV culture and half the CCTVs installed by the government are non-functional, Director General of Police Indra Dev Shukla said on Thursday, adding that individual police stations had been directed to form a one-man team to fix damaged the CCTVs.
While speaking at a function at the Verna Industrial estate, Shukla also said that crucial CCTV footage had put the police on the trail of the accused person responsible for setting fire to Bicholim-based builder Vallabh Salkar's vehicle and the case would be solved soon.
"As far as CCTV is concerned in Goa, what I have noticed, we are not having that culture of CCTV, which in fact western countries have taken much more ahead. When I came here from Delhi, I got a survey conducted about how many CCTV cameras we have. Around 350 cameras, the government of Goa has put in certain places like municipalities, panchayats and some other places, but 50 percent and more are not working," Shukla said.
"It is no use in fact. Neither data analysis is there, nor monitoring is there. It is being kept somewhere. Second aspect was, let us see how many private persons have CCTV. That are also around 500 in entire Goa, people have put them either in their shops or their residences," he also said, adding that he has requested the private individuals to allow one camera to cover the area outside their respective homes to monitor the possible movements of accused persons.
"I am not concerned with your privacy, please keep as many cameras on your family affairs, at least one camera should be focused outside. Maybe sometimes, we should know whether the accused has passed from there," he said.
Underlining the importance of CCTV footage in crime detection, Shukla cited the example of BJP leader Dr Shekhar Salkar's brother Vallabh, whose vehicle was burnt on election eve.
We got a small piece of camera (footage). How a person is coming with a Scooty, because Scooty's light is falling on the vehicle. He is just parking at 2:45 am. He is having a small white colour can. He is going to pour the petrol on the vehicle. He is doing the thing, lighting the vehicle and then he is running," he said.
"We are going to crack the case, I will not disclose right now. But this CCTV camera has given me age, profile, attitude, wearing of the dress and the vicinity. This is a small example. Suppose CCTV camera is not there, we may not be able to get any lead and in that case what happens, some political party may (accuse the opposition)," the top cop added.
"We are going for a scientific investigation. We have seen a person, whose age is this much, he is doing all this, he is having a Scooty. How many persons in Bicholim have a Scooty? How many people are of that kind of age. Who is he, wearing such kind of a dress? So many things can be easily answered," Shukla also said.
The top cop also said that he had directed police stations to form teams to fix damaged CCTVs.
"I have told every police station. You create one small unit with one constable. See that wherever the camera is faulty, take a mechanic and repair that. That much we can help you. POnda is doing, Vasco is doing. To check criminals we must have CCTV," Shukla said.
