Lecherous Men, Be Warned, You Are Being Watched!

Why did the Damini incident occur in the bus without anyone knowing during the incident? Because the lack of proper surveillance system in the bus prompted the men to perpetrate the atrocities. Here comes a system with which authorities can track when and where a particular incident has happened. The recorded video is tamper proof – stored in a proprietary format so that it can’t be tampered. The video can be transmitted to a central command station in real time, which comes in handy during emergency situations.
Dhaval Shah, Product Manager – Security & Surveillance, eInfochips explains about use of the product, which is a need in the current situation particularly in India. He says, “In the context of public safety and security in mass transport systems, one of eInfochips’s projects can be of immense relevance in India. It deals with surveillance systems that report on events inside the bus, enabling corrective and preventive action.”
Talking first about the company, he introduces, “Ours is a global product engineering solutions company based out of Ahmedabad. We have globally proven expertise across key industries including aerospace and defense, retail, security and surveillance, semiconductor, medical devices and software products.”
Situation today warrents it. He says, “Personal safety during travel is becoming a nightmare in India today. A US citizen was slashed by an unidentified assailant in Mumbai, innocent Nirbhaya was brutally raped by 5 men in a bus and her friend was coldly stabbed. These incidents play out everyday across India on buses and largely go unreported and thus, reoccur. If people know they are being watched, they will be deterred from these crimes.”
Surveillance Technology can help prevent untoward incidents in public transport systems. Dhaval informs, “Rapid urbanization and pressure on public transport systems underscores the dire need for a mass transit system that functions efficiently and is safe. Huge traffic density, urban sprawls and increasing Traffic jams and 3 hour commutes – these are the hallmarks of our metros today and hence, public mass transit systems, such as the Metro, BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit Systems) have become the preferred and advocated mode of transport. Surveillance technologies built into the bus can be very helpful in monitoring, broadcasting and enabling immediate corrective and preventive actions. Besides passenger behaviour, the systems can monitor the workings of the bus itself (brakes/oil/air pressure/speed/lane driving) and the driver, enabling higher standards of safety and transport.”

He explains about the system, “Increasingly, with mass transit systems such as BRTS being the norm, issues of safety and efficiency arise. Driver behaviour, operational control, emergency warnings, staff behaviour, etc. become necessary to track and manage. Multiple technologies like Video Surveillance, Analytics, Cellular Communications, GPS, CANBUS, etc. come together to form a complete solution for transit safety and efficiency. A ‘Network Video Recorder’ (NVR) records events while the GPS can identify the location of a particular incident, various sensors track indicators for speed, braking, signals, etc. This gives a holistic view of the health of the vehicle, driver behavior and fleet efficiency, while gathering data for forensic analysis. The NVR can be connected to up to 12 cameras on the bus. Video content can be stored onboard for up to 30 days without extraction. The total information gathered can then be transferred to a central location either online or offline.”
For fleets, the depot extracts all data over a wireless network when bus is stationary. eInfochips has developed the complete solution for this application for a US based company.

This article was initially published in Eve’s Times and has been reproduced here with the permission of the editor, Swati Amar.