After a nudge by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt digitalization across the country, most government and municipal bodies all over the country have decided to go digital. The police department has also adopted digitalization in crime detection, awareness drives and communicating with the citizens of their localities.
Mumbai Police is very active on social media and have successfully connected with the citizens on various social media platforms. Likewise, Pune Police is not far behind. They are active on all social media platforms and have designed some software applications that work for them. The Pune Police is consistently working towards digitizing their control room and the effort is paying rich dividends.
With the success of the initiative, the number of calls handled by the Control Room has substantially increased, and cases of wrong information and manual errors have reduced significantly. The control room now handles around 35,000 calls per day, up by 25,000 from 2016-2017. This is a significant improvement over the earlier system. Integrated voice recordings and call logs ensure retrospective queries are responded to quickly, thereby building credibility with citizens, judicial system and the media. The insightful reports generated also provide the police control room with key data points for optimal deployment of resources. The result of the initiative is a more positive user experience for the distressed caller that instils greater confidence in the police force.
Pune Police was looking to modernise its control room when Persistent Systems, a technology services company, came forward to support and assist them in their endeavour in 2015. The first phase of the project was commissioned live in February 2016, with a capacity of 10 call-takers. In 2017, the capacity of the control room was extended to support 24 call-takers.
The Dial-100 initiative automates control room operations completely; from challan creation to routing the challan to the correct dispatcher while tracking, and recording all related activities until the challan is closed. The solution is scalable and based on demand; the number of call-takers can be increased within a short period of time.
Regarding the successful implementation of the initiative, the Police Commissioner of Pune, Rashmi Shukla, said, “The modernised control room improves response time and we can now provide timely assistance to those who need it. Initially, there were four to five lines, but now 18 dedicated lines are open to citizens for lodging their complaints. Persistent Systems has helped us in building a state-of-the-art digitised police control room, fully operational and linked to the emergency number – 100. Police can now respond to the caller and reach the destination within a short span of five to eight minutes. The technology has helped build confidence and trust in the police, and we are now just a phone call away.”
According to Shukla, the police control room performs a very critical function and acts as a central gateway for any citizen in need of help in the city. Pune Police has always been ready to embrace technology to better serve the citizens of the city.
Pune City Police has also launched a mobile application for women safety that facilitates them to seek immediate help from the cops. An emergency safety number for senior citizens has been set up where they can get themselves registered. A police team will be in constant touch with senior citizens to understand their problems and educate them about safety measures.
Citizen Talk
“We have been living in Pune for the past twelve years, and have been witnessing the changes taking place over the years. Pune Police is very active on social media; using it effectively to spread knowledge and awareness regarding law and safety. I have downloaded the FIR App and also connected with the police through its initiative – Buddy Cop. I feel much safer than before,” says Divya Panchan, an employee at a private firm.
“Buddy Cop is a good initiative towards safety of women. Women employees are given numbers of Buddy Cops who are mostly lady police personnel with whom they can discuss everything related to their safety. City Safe is another application that has been introduced to report any suspicious activity and rate areas based on their safety quotient. We highly admire the efforts of the city police towards our safety,” says Snehal Patil, a BBI student.
