Mumbai police will soon get ‘mobile control room’

Mumbai police soon to get one 'Emergency Response and Mobile Surveillance Control and Command Centre' van in each region. The white colour van, which will be known as ‘mobile control room’ is equipped with four high resolution CCTV cameras, one 360-degree camera and one satellite on its roof which can be directly connected to main control room of Mumbai police.

The internal set up of airconditioned van can relay live feed to the main control room during any hostile situation. The cost of each mobile surveillance van is nearly Rs 2 crore, said a senior IPS official requesting anonymity.

“Mumbai police is divided into five Regions including East, West, North, South and Central. One each van will be stationed at Region’s office and can be moved to places if there is any VIP movement, in case of a law and order issue or if there is any disaster like fire, building collapse, etc. The van can relay the live feed from the spot to our main control room from where our senior officials can monitor the situation,” the official added.

The 360-degree camera atop van can be erected to a desired height to cover longer distances with better clarity. Similarly, the satellite fitted on the roof of the van can be raised to a certain height if the signal is weak. The four high intensity lights are fitted on the edge of van. A microphone is also fitted in the van to making public announcements. The city is under constant surveillance of 6000 CCTV cameras but there are few locations and junctions with no electronic surveillance.

“Suppose there is fire incident and there is no CCTV camera installed in the vicinity, this van will be immediately rushed to the spot and will relay live footage to our main control room. If need be, we can use the footage as an evidence,” another IPS officer added.

There is one large LED television screen where the footage can be seen.