Pune police flag 250 criminals, generate over 8 lakh alerts using AI surveillance during Ganesh festival

The technology helped identify individuals with criminal records, detect suspicious activities, and manage large crowds, said officials

In a significant leap for smart policing, the Pune police leveraged AI-powered CCTV analytics and real-time surveillance tools to ensure peaceful Ganesh festival celebrations across the city.

According to assistant commissioner of police (IT) Vivek Pawar, the AI-enabled CCTV system employed a two-tier facial recognition and categorization mechanism, operating at an 85% accuracy level. (HT)

The technology helped identify individuals with criminal records, detect suspicious activities, and manage large crowds, said officials.

According to assistant commissioner of police (IT) Vivek Pawar, the AI-enabled CCTV system employed a two-tier facial recognition and categorization mechanism, operating at an 85% accuracy level. “Based on this, 250 individuals were flagged and were further verified by the crime branch. Over eight lakh alerts were generated,” he said.

Key arterial roads and hotspots were under constant surveillance to identify mischief-makers and individuals with past criminal records, officials said.

In addition to facial recognition, the AI surveillance system flagged 50 instances of abandoned or suspicious bags and issued 250 alerts related to women found in isolated or potentially unsafe locations.

The operation was supervised from the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Shivajinagar and a dedicated war room at Faraskhana police station, where real-time coordination between different deployment units was facilitated.