CCTVs fail to curb crime rate in city

Poorly maintained CCTV cameras in the city of no use to the police

CCTV cameras ufffd installed at banks, ATM kiosks and markets to help check looting and burglary ufffd have failed to deter criminals and put a curb on rampant petty crimes in the city, thanks to poor maintenance of the 'third eyes' and dangling decorations that cover the lenses of the equipment.

u00a0With the "third eyes" failing to capture criminals in the act, the police are now banking on their investigative skills and network of informers to arrest the culprits.

In the Punjab National Bank robbery case in Aundh, the police were unable to get any footage of the broad-daylight heist at the bank in 2009 as some decorative objects dangling around the CCTV camera covered its lens. Six criminals had looted around Rs 6.5 lakh in that incident.

Inspector Sunil Pawar of the crime branch said: "The footage captured by the CCTV camera in the PNB robbery case proved to be of no use. The authorities should have been a little more careful about the upkeep of the cameras."

Citing another example, he said: "In the Narayan Pujari rape and murder case, one of the accused, Yogesh Raut, withdrew money from an ATM outlet in the Airport area by using the deceased's debit card. But Raut could not be identifiedu00a0 in the CCTV footage as the light inside theu00a0 ATM was dim and the camera did not have night vision features." The burglary at Shree Vishal Jewelers at the Kohinoor Arcade in Nigadi was another example wherein the owner had taken all precautions and installed 16 CCTV cameras.

But the equipment proved to be of no use as it did not have night vision. ACP Prabhakar Patil said: "Had the jewllery shop cameras had night vision mode, they would have captured the footages of the act and we would have arrested the criminals in no time." According to the police, there are hardly any incidents when criminals destroy these cameras as they are well aware of the fact that the equipment are ill-maintained.