As a commercial and cultural hub with very large populations of affluent professionals, tourists, and senior citizens, the city of Pune is considered one of India’s safest.
As a commercial and cultural hub with very large populations of affluent professionals, tourists, and senior citizens, the city of Pune is considered one of India’s safest. Nonetheless, Pune remains a high-risk area for potential theft and crime. In addition, as one of India’s most car-congested cities, traffic management poses another challenge. Accordingly, Pune has invested significant resources towards smoothing city operations and making the streets safe to benefit its 6.5 million residents, including a comprehensive city-wide surveillance project, launched in 2015.
Prior to the new city surveillance deployment, crime was managed reactively, action and response were delayed, traffic was not monitored properly, and personnel costs for investigations were high. These challenges contributed to the need for a new surveillance system comprising many hundreds of cameras. Once installed, the main challenge became how to turn the enormous quantities of video footage being generated into actionable intelligence.
To meet its stated objectives of improving law and order, speeding up investigations, better managing traffic violations, and deterring crime proactively, the Pune City Police Department sought a solution that would streamline the video monitoring and review process by enabling operators to receive automatic alerts, respond quickly and investigate incidents efficiently.
Solution
The Pune City Surveillance (PCS) project consists of four zones covering 640 sq. km. Certified Systems Integrator and member of
Agent Vi’s Channel Partner Program (CPP), Allied Digital, installed a state-of-the-art surveillance system that includes a situation management center and video management system (VMS) from Verint, integrated with GIS/GPS, LPR, and with video analytics by Agent Vi. The PCS system executes 24×7 surveillance via a backbone network connecting 1,320 IP cameras to a state-of-the-art Command and Control Center (C3) with video monitoring conducted at police stations and government agencies throughout the city.
Some one hundred fixed cameras in key locations were enabled with Agent Vi’s video analytics with rules configured to meet PCS requirements, specifically: real-time alerts upon detecting traffic violations and unusual crowd behaviors, as well as video search capabilities to enable rapid post-event criminal investigations.
Result
The effect of using Agent Vi’s video analytics was felt almost immediately, as it enabled PCS operators – who do not monitor video manually – to receive automatic alerts, in real-time, of events of interest. Alerts are generated for security breaches and unusual behaviors such as loitering, crowding, and unattended objects.
Of particular interest to the PCS operators are the alerts received for traffic infractions including wrong way entries, driving in no-entry zones, stopped vehicles and double-parked vehicles, and illegal turns. Within the first year of operations, the city was able to reap the financial benefit of 2,000 tickets issued to drivers for traffic violations, with video analytics playing a crucial role in detecting the infractions.
Moreover, human resources are now deployed more effectively by using video analytics to investigate cases of theft, burglary and homicide.
“As a master Systems Integrator we have put in our best effort to ensure successful implementation of the PCS Project” said Jawahar Ali, CEO of the Integrated Solution Group at Allied Digital. “Video Analytics was deployed because the total number of cameras in the system is huge, and it is not possible to view all the cameras simultaneously. Agent Vi was selected as their video analytics are rated far better than competing solutions. Since implementation, Agent Vi’s video analytics have improved surveillance operations as cameras not being viewed by any operator are automatically monitoring for exceptional behavior including loitering, crowding, and traffic violations, and alerting the operator.”
“We are proud to be a part of Pune City Surveillance, a project that has placed Pune at the forefront of India’s smart and safe cities initiative,” said Ariel N. Frischoff, VP Sales EMEA & APAC at Agent Vi. “Our video analytics solutions are in place to support Pune’s extensive CCTV surveillance and contribute to the city’s vision of being truly ‘safe and smart’ using enhanced AI-driven technologies for the benefit of all its residents.”