Tech leg up helps Hyderabad police enforce lockdown

HYDERABAD: In a bid to strictly enforce the lockdown rules and also maintain social distancing norms in the state, the police, apart from the Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR), are also using crowd analytics software and drone cameras. The traffic enforcement system in the Hyderabad Commissionerate is issuing challans under Section 179 of the MV Act to those who are for violating the lockdown rules by travelling for more than three kilometres without a valid permission or reason.
The police in three commissionerates are making use of the crowd analytics software.They are sifting through video feed from 335 cameras to alert the local police about gatherings of five or more people at a given location. “The software raises an alarm about the crowd gathering at a particular place based on camera feed and the nearest police patrolling vehicle gets an alert,” DSP Srinath Reddy said. Cyberabad and Rachakonda police have started using drones, embedded with cameras and mikes, to identify mob gatherings inside the cordoned off localities where Covid-19 positive cases have been detected.

“Some localities near Balapur, Moulali and Pahadesharif have been cordoned off due to Covid-19 cases. To ensure that people do not gather in big numbers, we are going to use drones. Once we spot a group of people through drone surveillance video feed, we can ask them, through the mike installed on the drone, to disperse. We can also identify if any shops are open beyond the permitted time through drone surveillance,” Rachakonda commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said.
Police of Karimnagar and Cyberabad commissionerates have been using drones to keep a watch on the movement of people and the activities during the lockdown period. “We have been using the drones at certain localities in Rajendranagar, Qutbullapur, Jagadgirigutta which have been cordoned off after Covid-19 positive cases. The drone camera helps the patrolling team to monitor the movement of people in the bylanes of the cordoned area from outside,” V C Sajjanar, Cyberabad commissioner of police, said. Bhupalapally district revenue authorities are using drone for surveillance as well as for spraying of Sodium Hypochlorite in virus-hit localities.