Five years ago, Dhaka Metropolitan Police installed more than 150 CCTV cameras at different points in Dhaka, hoping for better crime surveillance, command system and traffic control.
However, none of those closed-circuit television cameras, installed at that time at a cost of Tk61.39 lakh, are operational now.
Just about a week or so after being installed in November 2009, most of the cameras started malfunctioning, especially during night time when light was low, and the command centre set up on the Abdul Gani Road in the city stopped receiving footage from these cameras.
Within a year, all the CCTV cameras were out of order, and they have never been repaired or reinstalled since.
When contacted, Sharmin Afroz, system analyst of DMP, said the cameras and display boards were operated with radio-wave signals, but the system faced difficulty because the high-rise buildings in the city blocked the signals. Moreover, failure to ensure uninterrupted power supply also crippled the surveillance system.
“The supplier has suggested that we should increase the number of base stations and install fibre optic connectivity rather than depending on radio waves,” she said.
Sharmin also said that there had been very little progress because technology has rapidly improved since the project had been undertaken. “Moreover, nobody is ready to take on the responsibility. As a result, the CCTV cameras have remained nonfunctional.”
Those 155 cameras were installed at Uttara, Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Mirpur, and in the 49 police stations in the city. A total of 94 internet protocol (IP) cameras were installed at the 12 entry points to the capital.
Recently, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have been facing strong criticism for not being able to catch the killers of science writer Avijit Roy or those who assaulted women on Bangla New Year’s day, despite having relevant CCTV camera footage.
But DMP sources said these cameras had been installed on the Dhaka University campus temporarily for special occasions such as the Ekushey book fair and the Pohela Boishakh; they were not part of the 2009 project.
DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah did not admit that the CCTV camera footages had been of no use.
“We have been able to get an idea about what happened on those days by analysing the footage. If there were no cameras, then we have been totally blind,” he said.
Asked why then none of the criminals have so far been arrested in connection with the Boisakh assualt on women, he said that police officials had been working on it.
When contacted, Monirul Islam, chief of DMP’s Detective Branch (DB), said: “We have identified around 12 people from the footage and now we are trying to trace the culprits.”
This correspondent has seen from time to time that the DMP has the technology to enhance the footage captured by surveillance cameras and come up with workably clear pictures of criminals.
On January 9, miscreants attacked Law Minister Anisul Haque’s residence in Banani and hurled bombs at the Canadian embassy. DMP has surveillance mechanisms in both the areas but none of the miscreants have been tracked down so far.
On January 13, BNP chairperson’s advisor Riaz Rahman got badly injured in an attack at Gulshan. CCTV cameras installed in the area showed the criminals fleeing the area on motorbikes after the attack, but police have not managed to arrest any of them.
Lutuful Kabir Chowdhury, deputy commissioner of police’s Gulshan Division, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “From time to time, we have arrested a number of criminals by identifying them from CCTV camera footage. And sometimes, we have not been able to do so.”
Seeking anonymity, a security professional told the Dhaka Tribune: “If the authorities want, tracing the criminals is not impossible. The quality of the existing cameras needs to be upgraded. But first, the authorities must have the will.”
DMP boss Asaduzzaman Miah said that they are installing better cameras at the capital’s entry points which would be able to clearly shoot even the number plates of vehicles.
“That would definitely help us in better combating crime in the near future,” he said.
