AI cameras at KSR station will see through your mask

AI cameras at KSR station will see through your mask

Full-Fledged Launch From Next Month

Christin.MathewPhilip@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: 09.12.2021

Last month, a 41-year-old mentally disturbed woman went missing from east Bengaluru. The Railway Protection Force (RPF)’s control room in Bengaluru division received an alert and photograph of the woman at 11.35pm from a group of citizens. At 11.47pm, RPF personnel managed to trace the woman who was wearing a fullmask at KSR Bengaluru City railway station. The swift tracking happened with the help of AI-enabled face-recognition cameras.

“We could trace her in just 12 minutes. In fact, relatives of the woman were also surprised that we could find her in such a short time,” said a RPF official.

For the past nine months, a trial run of recognition cameras was on at the station. South Western Railway (SWR) officials said a fullfledged launch of the Rs 2.4-crore project will be held from next month.

“We have installed 120 of the 150 AI-enabled cameras. We could identify 43 criminals in the last nine months through this system. We’ll install them at 18 more stations in Bengaluru division,” said a senior SWR official.

A TOI report, ‘KSR, Yeshwantpur railway stations to get face-recognition cameras’ (May 6, 2019), had highlighted the plan. While facemasks are mandatory in public places after Covid-19, SWR officials said these cameras will detect people with masks too. Face-recognition cameras will recognise the face of a repeat offender/wanted persons involved in human trafficking, child kidnapping, smuggling, terrorist activities and other cases, then alert in cases of overcrowding stations, unclaimed baggage/ objects, keep track of those who frequent ticket counters, including touts. “We never anticipated that all will have to wear face-masks. But we had thought of people entering the station covering their faces, using sunglasses or hats and other scenarios, so it has come handy now,” said an official.

Asked about privacy concerns, another official said: “We’re not storing any data. We’re just matching faces in the database to records. In fact, most airports also have face-recognition cameras. Only criminals need to worry about this.”

UNDER SCANNER: RPF Bengaluru division’s command control centre where inputs from the cameras are monitored

HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK

These hi-tech cameras capture facial images at the railway station. The system has a database of criminal offenders from Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) and state police. If a blacklisted repeat offender match is found in CCTV feed, alerts will be given to the command-and-control room which is being monitored by a team of RPF staff round-theclock as well as 25 mobile phones of senior officials.

Live CCTV feeds are also displayed on multiple screens at the 16X10 feet video-wall at the control room.

These cameras will help us trace wanted persons, especially those involved in child trafficking. It will also ensure safety of women passengers. We’ll be able to track people with criminal backgrounds without delay

Shyam Singh | BENGALURU DIVISIONAL RAILWAY MANAGER