The district police in Ranipet have replaced ordinary CCTV cameras with high-resolution Automatic Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras at all its nine border checkposts to enhance surveillance and prevent ganja and rice smuggling and other serious offences. Police checkposts are located at places including Sankaranpalayam, Thamaraipakkam, Avalur, Sikkarayapuram, Arakkonam, Thimiri and Arapakkam. Each checkpost, on an average, is manned by four police personnel led by a sub-inspector. Most of these checkposts were for years equipped with ordinary CCTV cameras that have low resolution.
“The new ANPR cameras will strengthen surveillance as images, including the number plates of the vehicles, will be captured clearly,” D. V. Kiran Shruthi, SP (Ranipet), told The Hindu. M.S. Muthusamy, DIG (Vellore range), accompanied by Ms. Shruthi, inaugurated the facility.
Funded under the Road Safety Fund, the new cameras were installed at a cost of ₹16.72 lakh. Each checkpost has two ANPR cameras facing the opposite directions. The cameras have a storage capacity of 30 days.
Ranipet district shares its border with Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Kanchipuram, covering a distance of 150 kms. Ranipet has within its limits at least nine highway stretches, including three national highways such as Chennai-Bengaluru Highway and Cuddalore-Chittoor Highway. The new cameras will monitor these routes round the clock.
Also, these cameras will help the police to prevent smuggling of PDS rice, ganja and two-wheelers, and the illegal transportation of cattle, especially during night. Due to its high resolution, the cameras will clearly capture images of habitual offenders. An Integrated Command Control Centre at the SP office in Ranipet will monitor the new cameras. The centre, which will be manned by a team of police officers, will help provide better coordination between the headquarters and field operatives in nabbing suspects and offenders.
