Captured on camera

Who would dare to deliberately scratch or damage a Parsi’s car? Co-residents from the same colony. And how would the offenders be identified? By installing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.

Suspecting some disgruntled residents of deliberately causing mindless mischief and damaging vehicles, last year the committee members of the Godrej Baug Residents Welfare Association (GBRWA) decided to install CCTV cameras throughout the length of the colony. To supplement the efforts of six security guards in each shift manning 17 buildings in the Baug, 24 cameras have been unobtrusively positioned on lampposts, walls and buildings to scrutinize any suspicious movement.
Nearly two years ago Captain Colony at Haji Ali had installed CCTV cameras following a spate of thefts from vehicles, recalled Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman Dinshaw Mehta. "If residents’ associations from different colonies come forward to install CCTV cameras when they feel the need to do so, the Punchayet would gladly give them permission,” says Mehta who was happy that last year GBRWA had taken the initiative. From funding the operation, to finding the service provider to maintenance of the facility, it is the residents’ associations that "completely look after” the new security system, mentioned Mehta.

"Godrej Baug being nearly four times the size of Captain Colony and having an unusual topography,” installing CCTV cameras on this hilly terrain required more ingenuity, explained GBRWA vice president Shahrukh Bilimoria. In fact, although Prateik Accessories have successfully positioned the 24 cameras at Godrej Baug, not all are yet able to relay satisfactory images to the Digital Video Recording (DVR) system. "They will hence need to lay boosters to improve clarity of transmission,” mentions Bilimoria.
Whilst hoping that the entire Baug will be under CCTV surveillance by Diwali, the committee is of the view that rather than give Prateik a deadline, it is more important that the CCTV system serves its purpose with optimal transmission. That can only be possible if they have the cooperation of the residents.
Before negotiating with Prateik, the GBRWA had invited a police officer to one of their committee meetings and were reassured that they were proceeding in the right direction. The policeman had then conveyed that it would soon be mandatory for all housing colonies to install CCTV cameras as the overburdened police force needs the assistance of vigilant civilians.
CCTV cameras "serve a twofold purpose: crime prevention and crime detection,” stated Neville Daroga, honorary secretary of GBRWA. Crime prevention would require a lot of manpower with personnel scrutinizing the monitor screens in front of them 24x7. Since that would not be feasible at Godrej Baug, the emphasis here is on crime detection. From the DVR footage that is stored in the memory for 15 days, the committee have access to the images captured by the cameras in the event of any complaint.
Looking at the apparatus, it is not easy to discern the angle of the camera but the person checking the DVR can adjust it as per the requirement, mentioned Daroga. Programed with ‘anytime vision,’ during daylight the cameras can relay color images but at night time the images captured are black and white.

At different times in the past there were grievances of windscreens being damaged and cars bearing scratch marks. In the recent incident at Godrej Baug, a senior citizen’s insistence on feeding stray animals reportedly resulted in the committee receiving complaints that he was causing a public nuisance. Despite requests from committee members, the elderly man was said to persist with his ritual and leave a bowl by the roadside. One of the committee members would put back the bowl at his doorstep until it reached a stage when he allegedly retaliated by scratching the committee member’s car. This and other wilful misdeeds in the Baug have now dropped ever since committee members confronted a couple of miscreants with a video recording of their tampering with the cars and obtained an apology from them.
On another occasion when a resident complained of his helmet being stolen from his bike, the security committee studied the footage and realized it was carried off by one of the delivery boys. The next time the delivery boy came to the Baug, he was accosted by the security staff and he admitted that since he had forgotten his own helmet he lifted the one unattended.
There may be "nooks and corners” in this vast colony abutting Doongerwadi and Ambawadi on one side and several towering skyscrapers on the other that are not covered by the CCTV cameras. Neither has the GBRWA been able to install cameras at the Eco Park and the Agiary compound. Operating within a limited budget, the cost, Rs 2,00,000, of placing the colony under CCTV surveillance was raised by the GBRWA without seeking any payment from the residents. One reason why the residents were not asked to contribute was the concern that they may claim compensation from GBRWA in the event of any damage caused to their property. Would the liability then be higher for the GBRWA? wondered the committee who opted instead to use surplus funds from the previous year’s social activities and avail of their contacts to procure donations once they were given the necessary permission by the BPP.

The committee invited tenders, studied the feasibility of installing cameras, cables and wires to cover the undulating terrain and awarded the contract to the lowest bidder. The DVR equipment and monitors have been installed at two sites in the colony for restricted viewing by security committee members headed by GBRWA president Farhad Hozdar rather than permitting easy access to the footage by all and sundry.
Fortunately, climatic conditions and heavy monsoons have not impeded the functioning of the CCTV cameras but there are occasions when birds perched thereon have unwittingly changed the angle of the camera. The cost of maintenance of the equipment in the first year will be borne by the service provider. Thereafter the modalities will have to be worked out.
But no cost is considered too high so long as it protects the person and possessions of the residents, and more so their vehicles. For, at Godrej Baug, it is not only cars in running condition that are valued but even the rare one that deserves to go to the junkyard but is kept under a cover close to the entrance because the sentimental owner is convinced her late father would have appreciated the effort!