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Authorities propose feeding ATM CCTV footage into police servers

February 19, 2014

Authorities in Bhubaneswar, a city in India's Odisha state, are proposing that banks integrate their CCTV feed with police servers in order to improve ATM monitoring and reduce the incidence of fraud and thefts.

The step was suggested at a meeting this week between the city's bankers and police commissioner, according to an article by the New Indian Express. The cost for the proposed monitoring arrangement would be paid by banks, the article said. Police previously had asked banks to add CCTV monitoring at all ATMs.

Of particular concern, the article said, were cases of money-snatching by organized groups. In this scenario, an individual inside the bank watches for customers making large cash withdrawals and then signals a thief waiting outside, who snatches the money from the customer as he or she leaves the ATM.

A CCTV feed to the police would help to discourage such attacks and assist with the identification of assailants when they did occur, the Bhubaneswar police commissioner said.