Lucknow Police has started a new product under the Uttar Pradesh government’s Mission Shakti programme with an aim to help Women of the city. Lucknow police is deploying AI cameras that can recognize facial expressions to identify women in distress and alert their nearest police station. This move aims to reduce harassment and stalking cases.
Lucknow Police has already identified 200 hotspots where the movement of women is maximum. Cameras will be installed at these places. When the cameras identify women in distress, it will trigger the system to notify the police.
Many people also raised privacy concerns. Anupam Guha, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Policy Studies, IIT Bombay claims that this tech can be potentially harmful.
The primary concern is data privacy. Will the data be accessed by certain police personnels or all. Not all women in distress could be because of harassment. Some may be distress because of office pressure or something else. This new tech could lead to unnecessary harassment or questioning of women by the police.
