Let’s adopt technology as a tool to fight crimes

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The Western Railway RPF team on Sunday caught five mobile thieves on one day from trains and railway premises in the Mumbai division.

Installation of CCTV cameras at stations along the suburban section has helped a lot in identifying suspects and improving prevention and detection of cases. The suspects' movements were mapped, traced and tracked with the help of CCTV footage, a Western Railway spokesperson said in a report. At least 2,729 new CCTV cameras have been added to the suburban network between Churchgate and Virar.

The report shows that surveillance is now key in cracking crime. When we have technology and advanced aids it would be inane not to harness it in order to sharpen our crime fighting abilities.

Criminals are also using technology, which is a double-edged sword, to stay ahead of the game. So, it is doubly important to do what one can to foil these designs, to really use the best coverage to nail the thieves.

While robbing cell phones may sound like a small theft or not of much value, take into account a few things about train and platform robberies. Often, commuters are robbed at the cost of life and limb. Shocked at the prospect of losing their phone they may be tragically dragged onto the tracks.

The criminals, haring away, may crash into somebody on a platform sending him or her onto the tracks. One also has to factor in the intense emotional trauma the victims suffer after being targeted by robbers. It is not just the ‘value' of what they lost but the psychological effects that are often huge. When criminals realise they are getting caught, we may see numbers drop. More power to more cameras and clear, high-quality surveillance.