Policing the police, Kolkata traffic sergeants get body cameras

Politicians, their relatives and those used to throwing around their weight beware.

You may no longer get away claiming to be a kin of some top politician or cop when asked to pull over for jumping signal or not wearing a helmet. You also may not get away abusing a traffic sergeant when caught violating a traffic rule.

Traffic police personnel often bear the brunt of those who try to browbeat, and often simply beat them up, to get away after breaking the law. (HT Photo)

Even the traffic cops themselves could be hauled up for misbehaving with a motorist or fleecing commuters by slapping false cases. For, the entire exchange between a traffic cop and an errant motorist will now be video-recorded in a camera attached to his uniform.

All traffic sergeants deputed by the Kolkata Police to ensure road safety and enforce traffic rules will have to wear the miniature cameras as part of their uniform.

Read: Noida traffic police to launch app that will apprise commuters about jams

Manufactured by Transcend, a Taiwanese firm, the cameras will be equipped with an internal memory of 32 GB. All 625 sergeants manning 25 traffic guards of Kolkata Police have already been provided with this device.

The cameras have already been in use since September 1.

A camera adorns the uniform of a Kolkata Police sergeant on duty on September 2. (Ramkrishna Samanta)

The traffic sergeants have been trained to operate the device. They have been instructed to fix the camera to their uniforms during duty hours.

Read: Cyberabad Traffic Police launches ‘eye-worn cameras’

The sergeants have been told to switch on the device every time they haul up a commuter or motorist for a traffic violation. They have also been directed to record the minutes of an angry exchange or altercation with an errant commuter, if any.

The sergeants, who have often been accused of harassing motorists and slapping false cases, won’t fleece commuters for fear of being caught on camera.

Traffic rule violations trigger the most frequent confrontations between the law enforcers and the law breakers. (HT Photo)

“The cameras would help us corroborate complaints against the officers or commuters, if any. The footage, enabled with audio, will be recorded every three minutes. The sergeants have even been told to record the scene of an accident for further investigation,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.

The cameras are equipped to capture clear images even in low light or at night.

The sergeants will have to hand over the device to a designated person in his traffic guard, who in turn, will transfer the recorded footage to a computer. The footage will automatically be stored in the servers of Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar as well as computers of all 25 traffic guards that are linked to the Lalbazar server.

Such cameras were introduced in Hyderabad earlier.