Over 5 lakh CCTV cameras in Bengaluru city geo-tagged, to act as ‘eyes and ears of police’ for crime detection

According to data from the MCCTNS portal, the CCTV cameras are installed in residential areas, commercial centers, highways, traffic signals, educational institutions, hospitals, banks and other important places.

The cameras will be used for crime investigations apart from surveillance work, the police said.

“Last year in January, that is January 2024, we collected information of the presence of a total of 2,32,711 CCTV cameras in public places in the city. Subsequently we undertook a task of increasing the number of CCTV cameras to five lakh in the city. Now we have over five lakh cameras in Bengaluru,” Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B Dayananda said this week.

He added that the force has added 3,03,104 cameras since January 2024.

“These cameras are very useful for policing in the city. They act as the eyes and ears of the police department. They help us understand the situation when any incident occurs in the city. These cameras have been installed under various initiatives,” Dayananda said.

The cameras have been installed under the Public Safety Act, where commercial establishments have been mandated to install cameras, under the Safe City project of the police.

“We have also given directions to small enterprises like teashops to install cameras. All these cameras contribute to safety in the city, for smart patrolling and for digital means of ensuring security,” the Bengaluru police commissioner said.

“All these five lakh cameras have been geotagged and mapped with our MCCTNS portal. When an incident happens, we get the information about the number of cameras present around the scene and the contacts of the users of the cameras,” the city police chief said.