Body cams, drones coming to aid of Indian Traffic Police
Indian traffic police departments in Noida, Gaziabad and five Kaval towns (Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow) will soon be testing body worn cameras to help police book traffic violators and drones to keep tab on smooth flow of traffic.&nbsp;
LUCKNOW: In a first for India, traffic police departments in Noida, Gaziabad and five KAVAL towns (Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow) will soon have body worn cameras to help cops book traffic violators and drones to keep tab on smooth flow of traffic. The pilot project, which Uttar Pradesh traffic police department plans to launch in the seven districts by the year end, will become an essential part of the district traffic police department across the state by 2017.“The idea of body worn cameras came following recent incidents of traffic violators entering into a dispute with cops over spot challan,” said Anil Agarwal, additional director general (ADG) Traffic. “Once a constable has a camera on him, those violating traffic will have no scope of accusing cops of harassment,” Agarwal said adding: “At the same time, it will act as a deterrent for cops indulging in malpractice.”Drones will be used to superivse smooth flow of traffic in cities, he said. “Drones will be used to monitor traffic flow in areas which do not fall in the heavy traffic zones, but witness jams particularly during the rush hours,” said Agarwal. “The traffic police control room will monitor the drones and divert traffic police deployments to the spot which need immediate attention,” he said.To begin with, each of the Kaval and NCR districts will have at least one drone and 25 body worn cameras (BWCs). “We plan to have 25 crossings in each of the seven districts to be covered with BWCs and a drone each. In Lucknow, we will have two drones. One BWC is estimated to cost Rs 25,000,” said Agarwal.A proposal to finalise purchase of BWCs and drones has been prepared and awaits a final nod from the Traffic Management Committee meeting due later this month. The traffic police department plans to but the two gadgets in use within the next four months.The traffic police decided to launch a traffic management programme under which the department will provide a district wise map showing listed parking in every district along with no parking zones. The information will be available on the traffic police app that is on the anvil.The traffic department on Tuesday also launched two awareness campaigns—Responsible Citizens and Responsible Schools. The department plans to use dedicated Facebook profiles for the two campaigns to educate people and students about traffic rules and how they can contribute towards a better traffic scenario in their respective district.