Noida police gets 507 body-worn cameras for ‘evidence-based policing’

Noida Police commissioner Laxmi Singh on Thursday announced that 507 body-worn cameras have been allocated to all 26 police stations

If you have been thinking to get away with petty crime violations on road or elsewhere in Noida, think again. The police force here has been equipped with body cameras.

Each police station will get at least four body-worn cameras for different focus-teams and all 116 police response vehicles will also get one each. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Noida Police commissioner Laxmi Singh on Thursday announced that 507 body-worn cameras have been allocated to all 26 police stations of the district as well as the traffic department to improve transparency and accountability in police functioning and promote evidence-based policing.

Each police station, Singh said, will get at least four body-worn cameras for different focus-teams and all 116 police response vehicles will also get one each.

Often, we see that some people misbehave with police personnel while being reprimanded. Hence a body-worn camera will act as a deterrent for the same and ensure accountability, the officer added.

At every police station, four teams -- a mobile team, a Shakti mobile team, a ‘Swayam Siddha’ team of women constables, and the women help desk -- focused on different types of policing have been constituted, and each team to have one body-worn camera.

“Each of these teams are provided with one body-worn camera for policing,” the officer said, adding that each police post will have the body-worn cameras soon. For now, they have only been given at police stations.

“Apart from this, 116 vehicles of UP Dial112 (police response vehicle, or PRV) are in use to provide quick police assistance in case of emergency. One body worn camera has been allotted to each PRV of UP Dial112,” said the commissioner.

The remaining 287 cameras have been given to the traffic police.

The commissioner said that the videos recorded on these cameras will be preserved on a server for 30 days.

Instructions have been given to the traffic police to ensure video recording is on during any incident during their duty and during investigation of complaint applications and so on. “This will not only improve the behaviour and professionalism of the police but will also establish good rapport between the police and the public,” said the commissioner.