India, Sept. 9 -- In a significant leap for smart policing, the Pune police leveraged AI-powered CCTV analytics and real-time surveillance tools to ensure peaceful Ganesh festival celebrations across the city.

The technology helped identify individuals with criminal records, detect suspicious activities, and manage large crowds, said officials.

According to assistant commissioner of police (IT) Vivek Pawar, the AI-enabled CCTV system employed a two-tier facial recognition and categorization mechanism, operating at an 85% accuracy level. "Based on this, 250 individuals were flagged and were further verified by the crime branch. Over eight lakh alerts were generated," he said.

Key arterial roads and hotspots were under constant surveilla...