Police to monitor CCTV footage from cameras in private buildings and homes

By Damith Wickremasekara

The Sri Lanka Police will soon start monitoring CCTV footage from cameras installed by business establishments and residences, with the consent of the owners.

They would make use of camera footage only facing the main roads and public places.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Nihal Thalduwa, in charge of the Crimes Division and also the spokesman said that inorder to monitor the footage the Polce is currently developing an App which could be made use for the purpose.

He said they expect public co-operation who would provide access to selected cameras mainly facing the main roads as it will help the police to crackdown on crime and traffic offenders.

The move comes in view of the success gained in monitoring CCTV footage from cameras installed by the Police and public institution in combating crime and traffic offences.

The Operations Room of the Police, monitoring CCTV round the clock have contributed to resolve criminal cases and file action against traffic offenders.

The Police in February introduced a system of filing action against those violating  traffic laws after monitoring CCTV footage and informing the vehicle owner.

Since February, after the new system was introduced, action has been filed against 4,354 persons who violated traffic laws after monitoring CCTV footage.

However previously the system had been put into operation where action had been directly fled. The Operations Room had filed 82,438 cases on traffic offences while the mobile unit fitted with CCTV cameras detected 38,075 traffic violations.

Both, the Operations Room and the Mobile unit also have helped to resolve 2,313 crime cases.