Considering that Indian cyberspace is vulnerable to cybercrime, the country must formulate a crisis management plan to tackle cyberattacks, cyberterrorism and cyberespionage attempts, noted a recent ASSOCHAM-PwC joint study.
“It is imperative for law enforcement agencies to have a system which will have a collaborative framework for receiving video feeds as needed from closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance systems and subsystems,” highlighted the ASSOCHAM-PwC joint study titled ‘Safe Cities: Collaborative Monitoring For the Community, By the Community.’
Leveraging the capabilities of a good video management system (VMS), when combined with video analytics, will also allow efficient access to these external camera feeds at the command and control centre.
“Collaborative monitoring of video feeds not only facilitates greater coverage of video surveillance within the city but also serves as a crime deterrent and assists law enforcement agencies in controlling incident escalation, crime detection and investigation,” said the study.
Collaborative monitoring is a unique tool through which security and law enforcement agencies can utilise the extensive network of surveillance cameras deployed by communities across the city along with cameras from other private and government establishments as needed.
It is an extremely prudent enabler for police departments, as while strengthening their relationship with communities, they can use information or footage gathered from these security cameras to support investigations and criminal prosecutions.
The advantage of leveraging this extensive network of external cameras ensures enhanced crime monitoring through a cost-effective, widespread and scalable model.
However, while implementing the collaborative monitoring framework, certain risks need careful management including conflicts with existing laws and regulatory proposals, lack of community awareness, funding issues, privacy and anonymity concerns, and other challenges to maximise the benefits of such initiatives.
Showcasing examples of collaborative surveillance’s impact, the study highlighted that Hyderabad’s crime rate decreased by 14 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, the UK-based Scotland Yard security agency used CCTV footage as evidence in 95 per cent of murder cases.
