Security tips from Tel Aviv & high-end training

With a major focus of the Israel tour being a study of the surveillance techniques adopted there,home department officials pointed out that one of the outcomes of the trip could be the creation of a single platform to monitor all CCTV cameras installed at different junctions,railway stations and subways in the city.

“Members of the team that had gone to Israel were shown around the Ben Gurion airport. It is called the world’s most well-protected airport,and the team got to see the various security procedures employed by officials at the airport. There is a high level of security checks and constant surveillance measures in place there,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home Department) Chandra Iyengar told Newsline.

A study group,comprising Iyengar,Principal Secretary (Home) P K Jain,Mumbai Police Commissioner D Sivanandan,Deputy Inspector General of Police (Force One) S Jaganathan,Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 8) Nisar Tamboli and Gadchiroli’s Superintendent of Police Rajesh Pradhan,had left the city for Tel Aviv on July 11. The group interacted with Israeli authorities on aspects of security and safety with special emphasis on training. It will submit a report with certain recommendations to the state government.

“There is round-the-clock surveillance in most parts of Tel Aviv,and a constant monitoring of footage from CCTV cameras. Since Mumbai is much larger than Tel Aviv,we do need to install more CCTV cameras at crowded places that are potential targets for terrorist attacks. While there are already CCTV cameras installed across the city,what is of utmost importance is the manner in which they are monitored. At present,different people are monitoring the CCTV footage at different places. A common platform needs to be set up for monitoring of such surveillance cameras across the city,” said Iyengar.

The Traffic Department of the Mumbai Police monitors CCTV cameras installed at 100 important junctions in the city while the Railway Police monitor CCTV cameras installed in and outside railway stations. Besides,the BMC has CCTV cameras in the city subways.