The Hyderabad Police are in the process of putting up more CCTV cameras on city roads, in addition to the current 225 units.
"The Police department is planning to hire CCTV cameras in a big way. We have requested the government in this regard and we may get more cameras in a phased manner," Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan said.
Presently, there are only 225 CCTV cameras on city roads and 40 per cent of them are not functional, he said. Most of these cameras were installed to check traffic violations and not for keeping a watch on criminal activities, Khan said.
Hyderabad needs at least 2,000 to 2,500 CCTVs at important spots, which would help in detecting crime, the police chief said.
"Apart from the security surveillance, footage from the CCTV cameras acts as a good evidence," he said, adding that it also helps in identification of miscreants during communal riots and agitations.
Hyderabad police was also working towards modernising the communication system and reducing the response time, he said. "The police control room receives close to 12,000 to 14,000 calls every day and it has the capacity to receive 12 calls at a time," he said, adding that police wanted to enhance the system further.