Hyderabad traffic police launch body-worn cameras

For the first time in the country, traffic policemen in Hyderabad will wear cameras on their bodies as part of an initiative to bring transparency and accountability in traffic management.

Telangana Home Minister N Narasimha Reddy on Friday launched the programme by issuing 100 `Body Worn Cameras` to the frontline officers.

He said this was for the first time in the country that policemen would have such equipment.

The body worn camera is user friendly and simple one click record. Citizens can notice the recording on the front facing 2.5 inch LCD Screen. Protected files and encrypted log of events makes it free from manipulation, police said.

The minister said this was one of the initiatives taken by the Telangana government to modernise policing in the city and to bring it on par with the policing in developed countries.

He said such measures would make police force people friendly and also bring transparency and accountability in traffic management.

Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy said that in the absence of such cameras it was always difficult to establish who was at fault during arguments between policemen and traffic violators.

—IANS