Smart cameras leaving thieves dumbfounded

Three suspects caught at Andheri station before they could commit a crime
A state-of-the-art camera at Andheri station is giving the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel a leg-up in their fight against crime as recent incidents indicate.
On July 28, 2021, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) employee of Western Railway noticed a suspicious person in CCTV surveillance roaming around the west side gate of Andheri station.He immediately informed the staff on duty. The man’s movement was closely observed and found to be suspicious. On being asked the reason for loitering at the station for such a long time, he failed to give a satisfactory answer. After that, he was brought to the RPF office, Andheri, where he disclosed his name as Sameer Abdul Khan. Khan, 20, a resident of Andheri West, admitted that his intention was committing theft. He also confessed to stealing a passenger’s wallet last month at platform 4 of Vile Parle station. After verifying his statement, it was found that a case of theft was registered against him on June 23, 2021 by the Government Railway Police (GRP). After that, the accused was handed over to Andheri GRP for further legal action.
This is not the first case of its kind. On July 2, another person was found roaming around at the Andheri station. The accused was later identified as Rahul Amritlal, 22, a resident of Bhayandar. He was caught by the RPF through CCTV surveillance. During live monitoring of CCTV cameras, it was noticed that Amritlal was roaming on the station premises apparently purposelessly. His movements were suspicious. During the preliminary investigation, he failed to give a satisfactory answer, and it was found that he is a notorious history-sheeter with previous criminal records. Nine cases of theft and robbery under IPC and three cases under the Mumbai Police Act are registered against him at various GRP police stations of the suburban section.
A senior officer of WR said that the CCTV cameras were proving useful to the RPF not only at the Andheri station but also at several other stations. “New cameras or not only producing more clear pictures but also alerting our security staff through various features,” said an official of WR, adding that 24 cases of theft of passengers’ belongings were detected through CCTV surveillance in the last few months. Out of these, in three cases the accused could be stopped from committing the crime just in time. In one such case, the accused was a habitual criminal having several cases of theft and robbery registered against him. Thus, CCTV surveillance is helping not only in the detection of crime but also prevention of crime.
The CCTV cameras at most suburban stations of WR were recently replaced with advanced cameras. These cameras are not only able to recognise the face of a repeat offender but can also alert the railway officials in cases of overcrowding at platforms and foot over bridges.
Besides, the new cameras are able to capture the face images from a live CCTV video feed and generate alerts. If a blacklisted repeat offender match is found, alerts would be pushed to the control room.
The new system can also work on partial occlusion of face, glasses, scarfs, facial expression changes. These cameras are also able to work on moderate face rotation, either horizontal or vertical.
These new cameras are not only helping the security officials to catch the criminals but also helping to trace missing persons.
“The new system has been planned as per the requirement of the security department. The video feed of CCTV cameras provided at stations is brought to the RPF post concerned. At these posts, there is a facility of live CCTV monitoring,” said an official.