Cops monitor CCTV footage to crack down on people not wearing masks

People walking on Gurugram roads without a face mask are likely to be intercepted by a police patrol squad within minutes, as the police have started monitoring

People walking on Gurugram roads without a face mask are likely to be intercepted by a police patrol squad within minutes, as the police have started monitoring live feed of CCTV cameras to identify violators.

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The police said the decision to monitor the footage of more than 2,000 close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras was taken in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the city and after receiving several complaints about people not wearing face masks in public spaces.

At present, the number of Covid-19 cases in the Gururgam has surged to 2175.

Muhammad Akil, the police commissioner, said that despite regular patrolling and announcements to the public, many are not wearing masks due to which they started this drive to arrest them. “This is an offence where bail is granted at the spot. The offender is penalised by the court,” Akil said.

According to the police, 1,278 people have so far been booked under sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Epidemic Act, 1897 and the Haryana Epidemic Disease, Covid-19 Regulations, 2020 for not wearing masks while stepping out of their residences.

“Station house officers (SHOs) have been assigned the task to monitor all the CCTV cameras in their area every day and to check how many residents are stepping out without masks,” Akil said.

On Monday, the police started monitoring live footage from 350 CCTV cameras at the Integrated Control And Command Centre (I-CCC), which is being used as a designated war room for Covid-19 surveillance. Akil said they are also monitoring CCTV cameras installed in residential complexes to monitor the movement of people and violations, if any.

The police will monitor footage from the 2,000-odd cameras installed in residential societies, commercial hubs and in open spaces from 6am to 8pm. Upon spotting a person not wearing a mask, the staff monitoring the footage will send an alert and a screen shot of the footage to the police control room (PCR) vehicles. The crime units will also assist in tracking the unidentified violators.

“Two policeman will be stationed in areas, such as condominiums, markets and commercial towers, facing the main road and monitoring live feed of the CCTV cameras. We have identified nearly 1,300 spots while 700 are pending,” said Akil.

The police said they have distributed more than 500,000 face masks during the lockdown period and have asked people to collect one from the PCR vans or police stations, if they cannot afford one. “ We have got masks stitched as well, as wearing of facial masks can reduce the spread of coronavirus substantially,” he said.