Chandigarh: The Chandigarh traffic police have procured 100 body-worn cameras to bring greater transparency in challaning and to reduce confrontations with traffic violators at check posts. The cameras will be issued to challaning officers after they undergo training.In 2017, the Chandigarh Police had purchased 104 body-worn cameras for traffic personnel. However, most of them are now defunct, prompting the department to procure new devices.SSP (Traffic), UT, Sumer Partap Singh said the cameras would be distributed to challaning officers after proper training in their operation. Senior officials said the primary objective behind the move was to ensure transparency in the functioning of traffic personnel during duty hours.Police officials said traffic cops often complain of misbehaviour by motorists when stopped at nakas, while residents, in turn, have raised concerns over rude behaviour by policemen. The body cameras, officials said, would help record interactions and provide video evidence to determine responsibility in case of disputes.According to officials, the devices can click high-quality photographs, record audio and capture high-definition video. Each camera has an inbuilt 32GB memory card and a battery backup of about four hours. Once the memory is full, data will be transferred to computers at the traffic lines in Sector 29 and preserved for around one year.Officials also said traffic personnel will not be allowed to switch off the cameras during duty hours, and action will be taken against any officer found violating instructions.Meanwhile, the traffic police have begun setting up special late-night nakas to challan motorists driving under the influence. Earlier, police had largely refrained from issuing manual challans and stopped vehicles only in cases of visible violations, following directions from DGP Sagar Preet Hooda.Data shows a decline of around 23% in the number of challans issued. While 8.50 lakh challans were issued in 2024, the number dropped to 6.56 lakh in 2025. Overspeeding challans fell from 1,47,605 in 2024 to 95,252 in 2025, while helmet-related violations declined sharply from 84,875 to 17,662. Cases of mobile phone use while driving also reduced, with 474 challans issued in 2025 compared to 1,532 in 2024.
