'CCTVs will reduce manpower requirement in police department'

Installation of CCTVs in major cities across Maharashtra would drastically reduce manpower requirement in the state police department in the long run, a top government official said here today.
"The manpower in crime detection and traffic management would be drastically reduced due to CCTVs. However, CCTV network after installation, needs to stabilise for few years. Even people need to get used to the system. The need for more manpower is likely to reduce in the next few years," Principal Secretary (Home) B K Upadhyay said.
Currently, there is a need for additional manpower in the police department and the stipulated recruitment process would continue for another nearly five to ten years, he added.

According to the official, citizens will have to understand that even though there will be no traffic police constable to monitor the traffic, they can't break signals as a camera is tracking them and they can be punished.
"The installation of smart cameras is being considered in the second phase of CCTV network installation," he added.
The installation of 6,000 CCTVs in Mumbai will be completed by next year, while in Pune the project would be completed in the next few months.

Upadhyay said there was a plan to link the CCTVs, currently installed in housing societies, malls and other private places with the integrated network, which will be manned at the Police Commissionerate at the Crawford Market in south Mumbai.

Last month, the state government had announced the next phase of the police recruitment drive to fill up 12,000 posts, which would begin from October this year.
The previous government had initiated a drive to recruit 60,000 police personnel, after which 24,000 posts have been filled up so far.
At present, there are 2.19 lakh police personnel in the state, excluding those stationed in Mumbai.
The strength of the Mumbai police force is 55,000.