Police set up CCTV at Karachi hot spots

Karachi: The police have set up a high-tech monitoring unit in the southern district of the city to get a bird's-eye view of all activities in the region which houses ‘the red zone' or high security areas, sources said.

The area contains many offices, police and bank headquarters, foreign missions, chief ministers and governors houses, as well as the main thoroughfares where political and religious rallies are held. The newly set up control and command system of the Sindh police will monitor all activities on an experimental basis.

Sources said some 100 CCTV cameras were installed in the area to monitor more than two dozen sensitive spots in the region around the clock.

These areas include roads from Guru Mandir, Empress Market, Regal, Tower, Shah Khurasan, Lee Market and Shaheen Complex to I.I Chundrigar Road.

In the second phase, officers are planning to install 174 more CCTV cameras at more than 900 spots across the city. All ten exit and entry points of the city would also be monitored through 60 CCTV cameras which will not only read the registration numbers of vehicles but also zoom in on drivers' faces. Work on the second phase is in an advanced stage and is expected to be operational within months.

On Wednesday, the US consul general donated equipment to the Sindh police worth $750,000 (Dh2.75 million). This includes a thousand bullet-proof jackets and helmets and other riot gear. This was the second shipment of supplies which reinforced the police with bomb detecting equipment, night vision goggles, binoculars and vehicles.