What’s the news: Kolkata police will soon have eyes on every square kilometre of the city using CCTV cameras, reported the Millennium Post. As per the report, officials plan to install 3,500 CCTV cameras across the city with another 150 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to photograph vehicle registration plates. Police’s growing love for surveillance tech: Bought under the Nirbhaya project, most cameras will be installed in crowded places to ensure women’s safety. It’s worth questioning whether such widespread surveillance is required considering the latest National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) statistics present Kolkata as the safest city in India. Yet, police insists that such technology will help them maintain law and order and solve crimes. Deja vu anyone? If you’re wondering where you’ve heard this before, Hyderabad and Chennai police have used similar reasoning to use CCTV footage or even photograph innocent passers-by and run the media through facial recognition systems. Even Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister called on November 25, 2022 for facial recognition-based cameras “to curb street crime” even though the city already has CCTVs installed after the 26/11 attack. Yet Kolkata has no such previous history to justify such a widespread use of surveillance technology. Moreover, the city already has 25 active ANPR cameras across the city and around 2500 normal CCTV cameras. So why is the Kolkata police suddenly eager to cover “every square kilometre”? Why it matters: At the end of the day, CCTVs are the first step in creating a surveillance state. Depending…
