By Deepa Chaudhary, Kathmandu, July 25: On 17^th June this year near the Office of the Controller of Examinations, TU in Balkhu a bike rider died after facing a collision with another bike. The latter bike rider absconded from the accident site.

The police were able to identify the rider who had escaped to Nawalparasi through the help of the CCTV(Closed-circuit television) cameras.

Last year on 28 July, there was a report that something that looked like gold was thrown on a pedestrian overbridge at 9 AM. Police officers in casual clothes were asked to investigate. However, when the chief officer arrived at the location the gold had disappeared. CCTV cameras had helped to find the culprit and the police officers who had colluded with the culprits.

Similarly, during various political rallies and protests, various people tend to enter and begin to throw stones. During such incidents, the leader of such persons are identified with the help of the CCTV and concerned authorities are alerted and the leader is arrested. These incidents are the only representative of the crimes captured by the CCTV. 

The Police are easily able to identify the culprit behind daily occurring crimes with the help of CCTV. In today’s age, CCTV’s are a must for the Police investigating crimes. The 743 CCTV’s in Kathmandu valley are constantly monitored by the police. The cameras have helped the police in investigating crimes.

Including CCTV’s in all organisations and associations, there are 2,542 cameras in Kathmandu. The Chief of the Crime Division of the Metropolitan Police in Kathmandu SSP Chandra Kuber Khapung has said that CCTV is very essential equipment.

He further mentioned that the crimes that fall under the Division have been both investigated and controlled with the help of CCTV.

“The lack of good CCTV has a huge impact on the investigation. Nowadays most people use a vehicle Due to this reason the means to commit crimes have changed. The criminals use various equipment to commit so the CCTV is equipment for the police too to keep up with criminals,” he said.

He has also assured that the crimes that fall under the police jurisdiction and committed in Kathmandu valley will always be investigated and controlled.

The Spokesperson of the Metropolitan Police Office in Ranipokhari, SP. Sushil Singh Rathore has said unregistered vehicles that commit the ‘hit and run’ and various thieves have been identified with the help of the CCTV.

He further says that various vehicles that cause accidents and run away from the accident site have been identified with the help of CCTV. Various thieves, pick-pockets, lost important documents have been identified with the help of the CCTV.

 “The CCTV camera helped us identify the culprits behind the gold robbing case and even during various protests and during the passage of the VIP’s our work has been made easier by the CCTV,” Rathore said.

Similarly the Spokesperson of the Metropolitan Traffic Police, Ramshahpath, SP. Sanjiv Sharma Das has said that during 2020-2021 the traffic police were able to identify 356,000 traffic offences with the help of CCTV and 2,743 offenders were interrogated for the offences.

According to the Metropolitan Police Office in Ranipokhari out of the 592 various crimes such as traffic accidents, vehicle theft, lost human beings, violence, arson, death  994 CCTV footage was collected out of 517 of them helped identify the culprit of the crimes.