After Goa Fire & Chinnaswamy Stampede, Bengaluru Police Deploy Drones, AI For Year-End Rush | Exclusive

Eyes on the ground, eyes in the air—safety and security will be the blanket Bengaluru Police promise to throw over the city this festive season.

That is the framework the city police are working with as Bengaluru braces for Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations against the backdrop of multiple red flags—the Goa nightclub fire that claimed 25 young lives, the recent Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede triggered by overcrowding, and the Bonding Beach terror attack.

With Bengaluru long viewed as a potential terror target and remaining on top alert, the police are now moving towards what they describe as a “Holistic” clear top-down, technology-led security approach.

“It’s a holistic view that we are looking at. We are using eyes in the air—drones, facial

recognition-enabled cameras and traffic ANPR cameras—along with enhanced deployment on the ground to manage crowds and keep an eagle’s-eye watch,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh exclusively told News18.

With lakhs expected to spill onto the streets—particularly across MG Road, Brigade Road, Koramangala and Indiranagar—the police are rolling out what they claim is the most comprehensively planned, technology-driven crowd management exercise the city has seen so far. The messaging this season, officials say, is clear and consistent: celebrate with responsibility.

“The idea is simple. We will be deploying twice the number of police personnel on the ground and using nearly five times more artificial intelligence-backed systems to monitor and control crowds, so people can celebrate safely,” Singh said.

Every year, an estimated 1 to 2 lakh people gather along the nearly two-kilometre stretch of MG Road and Brigade Road alone on New Year’s Eve. This year, the police are significantly scaling up both aerial and ground surveillance. More than 17 drones will be deployed across four major clusters—MG Road–Brigade Road, Church Street–St Mark’s Road, Koramangala 80 Feet Road and Indiranagar—to track crowd movement, congestion points, choke areas and emergency access routes.

In addition, traffic police will operate another 10 to 12 drones to monitor major junctions, diversions and traffic flow in real time.

“It is the responsibility of people to party and enjoy with a sense of responsibility, and it is our responsibility to ensure their safety,” the police commissioner said, outlining the festive-season strategy.

The drones, some of them equipped with thermal imaging, will continue surveillance well past midnight, allowing police to pick up unusual crowd surges, isolated disturbances and movement patterns that are difficult to detect from the ground. Alongside this, CCTV coverage across key celebration hubs is being increased by at least 10-20% compared to last year, spanning MG Road, Brigade Road, Church Street, St Mark’s Road, Indiranagar, Koramangala, Marathalli, Whitefield and other critical entry and exit points.

Behind the scenes, police have also been mapping and studying crowd behaviour patterns unique to each location. Officers point out that MG Road and Brigade Road typically attract first-time visitors and onlookers who arrive largely out of curiosity. Koramangala and Whitefield, on the other hand, being IT hubs, draw a different demographic—tech employees and younger groups like college goers and even those who are from the IT corridor—with distinct movement timings, density patterns and crowd behaviour.

Artificial intelligence is playing a far larger role this year. Bengaluru Police have integrated AI-enabled fire and smoke detection sensors into their surveillance network—a move sharpened by the Goa tragedy. Any spark, smoke or fire-like anomaly detected by the system is designed to trigger instant alerts in police control rooms, cutting down response time during emergencies.

The memory of the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede during the RCB victory celebrations remains fresh. Against that backdrop, police say interdepartmental coordination, real-time analytics and rapid-response teams are all operating on high alert this festive season.

“One of the biggest additions this year is real-time heat-map technology to measure crowd density. This will help us manage crowds more effectively,” Singh explained.

Using live camera feeds, the system analyses the number of people visible in each frame and categorises zones using colour-coded alerts—green for free movement, yellow for moderate congestion, dark orange as it approaches unsafe levels, and red when it becomes critical. Once a zone turns red, police stop inflow, divert crowds, stagger movement and deploy additional personnel on the ground.

The focus, police stress, is also firmly on the safety of women and children. There will be zero tolerance for harassment, drunken nuisance or crowd misbehaviour.

“We are setting up women help desks across key locations. If there is an issue, we are there to ensure support and safety on top priority,” the commissioner said. To widen visibility further, private establishments in key areas have been asked to temporarily link their CCTV feeds with the police network during peak celebration hours.

Officials say multiple drills have already been conducted, with officers and beat staff moving through interior lanes and private premises to understand movement patterns, identify blind spots and improve response time if something goes wrong.

Several high-risk points have been identified and placed under constant watch, including the MG Road–Brigade Road junction, Cauvery Emporium junction, St Mark’s–Brigade Road intersection, Church Street entry points, Koramangala 80 Feet Road and the Sony World signal.

The city’s existing traffic and surveillance platforms—including ASTRAM and VANKi—are also being actively leveraged to monitor disruptions and deploy resources dynamically, allowing police to respond not just to congestion but to crowd behaviour as it evolves through the night, the officials charting out the plan explained.