Mumbai: After the Western Railway (WR) set up 3897 CCTV cameras, of which 488 are equipped with inbuilt facial recognition system (FRS) in January this year, it has managed to solve
551 cases of crime against passengers and recovered property valued at over ₹1.5 crore between January and October this year. The upgrade has also helped the railways solve cases of missing people in the city.
WR had installed the cameras with FRS at entry points of all stations and uploaded photos of history-sheeters. When a suspect visits the premises of the railway station, the camera is able to identify the person and alerts the Railway Protection Force (RPF) control room immediately.
“Whenever we get a case of a missing person, we upload their picture and the system helps trace the individual within the station’s premises. There have been instances where we have received complaints from other states and we have managed to trace them in Mumbai or occasions where we have given leads to others,” said an officer from WR.
A 24-year-old man went missing from Lower Parel on November 25 and remained untraceable for two days thereafter. His picture was sent to WR and soon after it was uploaded, he was traced stepping out of Dadar station. WR shared the time with the family who managed to track him down at Dadar.
In another instance, WR received information of a 17-year-old boy who ran away from his home in Haryana with gold worth ₹ 2 lakh. Haryana police said he had boarded a train to Mumbai. Soon after his photo was uploaded on the system, he was traced at Churchgate station. RPF personnel rescued the child and handed him over to Haryana police.
The system was, however, set up to curb crimes against passengers. Several passenger-related crimes such as thefts and robbery have been solved, thanks to the upgrade.
“Alert RPF officials have also managed to retrieve passenger’s belongings such as mobile phones, bags containing cash, valuables, important documents and wallets. The anti-socials are handed over to Government Railway Police (GRP) for further legal action,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer, WR.
RPF personnel said watch is kept over criminals who are repeatedly seen at a particular spot. “The surveillance has helped bring down crime rate, especially by habituated criminals. Even criminals who have been arrested start spreading the word among other thieves to avoid station premises,” said an RPF officer.
Maximum cases were detected in August and September, at 73 and 60 respectively. When a passenger filed a case of theft of his bag containing ₹2.29 lakh in cash, at Mumbai Central station, with the help of the CCTV footage the crime prevention and detection squad at Churchgate apprehended the person who had past criminal record.
“On investigation he accepted his crime and was handed over to GRP for further action,” said officer from WR.
The cameras can also map heat – an alert is sent when too many people gather at a particular place, whereupon an officer diverts the crowd.