Kohima Police exploits smart technology for traffic surveillance

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Dec. 1 (EMN): On the occasion of Nagaland’s Statehood Day, Kohima Police overhauled traffic management in the state capital with the inauguration of a traffic control room, residential flats and launching of the ‘Kohima Police Traffic Sentinel Scheme’.

The inauguration of the facilities was done by the Director General of Police (DGP), Nagaland, T John Longkumer in the presence of state police top brass, officers of Kohima Police and representatives from civil society organisations on Tuesday.

The DGP, in his address, said that the SP of Kohima and his team have addressed the problems that plague not only the police but the people of Kohima in general, traffic and accommodation.

The police chief said there is a steep raise in the number of vehicles in Nagaland and more so in Kohima. Yet he observed that there has been no corresponding or reciprocating increment of roads and transport.

He maintained that there are only a few flyovers and bypasses that results in traffic congestions and other traffic-related problems. He added that flouting of traffic rules and basic norms of responsibilities by the people contributes to the same issue.

Longkumer further lamented that in spite of all the efforts put in, problems have persisted and stated that ‘there is a need to address the problem with seriousness.’

He said the traffic control room and the Kohima Police Traffic Sentinel programme are the responses to the critical situation. “They are the embodiment of technology applied with a conscience,” he added.

Further, Longkumer asserted that traffic control room is expected to solve problems of supervision and co-ordinate the efforts of traffic policemen all over Kohima town with added technology- Google Maps, CCTV Camera drones and FM radio.

He also expressed hope that the enhanced surveillance will increase the response speed of the policemen on the job in the form of sharpening predictive abilities, hotspot management, and dissemination of advisories and warnings to the public by increasing its outreach.

The DGP also said the Sentinel programme is the soul of the traffic control measures. Accordingly, he added, “It empowers the public to come forward as conscientious and law-abiding people to strengthen the arms of law”.

He opined that the programme would make proactive participation from the public with a ‘reward point’ accumulation system.

Longkumer meanwhile said the police headquarters’ vision is to support all proactive measures by the districts aimed at augmenting the service to the public and he also urged the units (police) to come up with programmes that will benefit the public and enhance its capabilities in fulfilling its charters.

Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police (SP) Kohima, Manoj Kumar said the control room is enhanced by modern-day technology and will manage the traffic of Kohima.

He informed that the traffic control room will be commanded by UBI, Vikuto Wotsa as I/C, ASI Khihilo Rengma as second I/C and ten other officers.

He added that the team will consist of four units namely traffic monitoring unit; technical support unit; police radio unit and traffic sentinel control unit.

The SP maintained that the Kohima Police had installed CCTV cameras in seven locations within Kohima town and live feed from all the cameras are centralised at the traffic control room.

The traffic monitoring unit will monitor the flow of traffic, identify any traffic violation and take the assistance of the footage in the investigation of road accidents and general crime, he said.

“The traffic monitoring unit will also be flying drones to have a good overview of managing traffic, besides we will also be using the assistance of Google maps to identify traffic congested stretches and take remedial measures,” said the police officer.

He informed that Live traffic updates will also be disseminated periodically by the technical support unit through 103mhz FM Tragopan Radio and Kohima Police Twitter and Facebook handles. He added that the citizens would be informed about routes to avoid traffic through police updates.

Traffic Sentinel Scheme

The SP, meanwhile, informed that the newly launched “Traffic Sentinel Scheme” is to bring traffic policing at the doorsteps of the community.
“We will be inviting citizens to register with Kohima traffic as ‘traffic sentinel’ and report certain traffic violations via photos and videos through WhatsApp which will later be upgraded to mobile App facility,” he said.

The officer informed that the safety and security of the identity of the sentinel would be kept confidential.

Cash or special rewards will also be handed over through a systematic method of points earned per violations reported by the sentinel, informed the officer.

Traffic Control Room/ building project

Presenting the technical report of the traffic control room-residential flats, the superintendent engineer (SE) of Police Engineering Project (PEP), T Imnajungba Jamir, said the project was constructed by M/s Akhrie & Co.

He informed that the project was funded under negotiated loan in 2015-16 from HUDCO with estimated cost of INR 1, 64, 24, 000 while the work order amount was INR 1, 12, 000 wherein the construction started on February, 23, 2016 and completed on February 12, 2020.

The building is a RCC storied building where basement-1 houses a type-I quarter of two units; basement-2 houses a type-III quarter of two units while the traffic control office is housed at the ground floor from the road (highway) level, while the plinth area of the building measures 5,450,00 sq. ft.