1,071 out of 2,100 police stations in Tamil Nadu have been equipped to retain their CCTV footage for 18 months, T.N. DGP tells Madras High Court
Justice V. Lakshminarayanan told that the process is under way to enhance the storage capacity in other police stations too
Mahesh Kumar Agarwal, the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police, informed the Madras High Court that 1,071 out of 2,100 police stations in the state have been equipped with CCTV cameras capable of retaining footage for 18 months. This milestone was reached after a phased installation process across the state. Each police station is equipped with six Internet Protocol cameras featuring night vision, audio, and video recording and storage.
The cameras are installed in key locations like receptions, police station halls, Inspector and Sub Inspector cabins, lock up rooms, and writer's desks. The report was filed in response to a judge's direction seeking clarification on whether all police stations are complying with the Supreme Court's directive to retain CCTV footage for 18 months.
As of now, 1,624 police stations had CCTV surveillance systems installed between 2013 and 2022, but the storage capacity of digital video recorders was only between 15 to 45 days. The Tamil government sanctioned funds in December 2024 to enhance storage capacity in 1,567 police stations, with the work completed in 1,071 stations during the financial year 2025-26. The contract for installing CCTV systems in an additional 507 stations would be awarded soon.
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