NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Goa police department is presently caught up in a technical snag as the automated dial 100 and Global Positioning System (GPS) based vehicle tracking system installed on the Police Control Room (PCR) vehicles have turned non-functional.
With a private firm reportedly unwilling to assist the police due to some issues pertaining to annual maintenance contract (AMC), the Goa police have now approached the Department of Information Technology (DolT) for a possible solution.
Currently, police have switched to the manual answering mode (dial 100) while the locations of vehicles are monitored on wireless communication system.
“We have written to the DolT requesting it to examine whether the automated dial 100 and the GPS-based vehicle tracking system can be repaired or whether it has to be replaced. If it is to be repaired what will be the cost,” said Superintendent of Police Umesh Gaonkar.
According to police, GPS tracking system ensures faster police presence as it helps to deploy the nearest PCR vehicle in case of any law and order situation or other incident. Apart from this, a watch could be maintained on the functioning of the PCR vehicles as it enables the police control room to monitor the vehicle in real time on a digital map, said a police officer. There are 54 PCR vehicles and 10 highway patrol vehicles and currently their locations are monitored on wireless communication system as was done previously, police said.
While the automated dial 100 has multiple functions/benefits, such as details related to a call is stored in the system. People had no difficulty in getting through 100 for any assistance, said a police officer adding that even if the line was busy, the call was answered subsequently. With automated dial 100 out of order, police have shifted to manual mode of answering.
It may be recalled that in 2011, the State Police Control Room (SPCR) was upgraded under the modernisation of police force programme. Problems started in April 2014 as the warranty of the installed machinery was over and there were issues pertaining to AMC which was subsequently resolved. A year later, the system was back on track but once again (towards end of 2016), similar problems occurred and the system started encountering technical snags.
While the police are dealing with technical snag at the SPCR, they are also dealing with unprecedented rise in calls received at dial 100.
Since January this year, an average of over 10,000 calls are received on day-to-day basis at SPCR. According to police, the reason for this exponential rise is owing to the panic button in smart phones which is being triggered off accidentally and unintentionally by cell phone users. Police said that the panic button (on/off button) if pressed thrice, the call is automatically made to emergency number 112 (National Emergency Response System) to which dial 100 has been integrated.
While the police have alerted mobile service provider regarding the issue requesting to send SMSs to its customers to take care while using the smart phone, police have also started contacting the numbers from whom repeatedly calls are received at dial 100. To overcome this problem on a temporary basis, the number of telephone lines in the SPCR has been increased to 30 lines from the existing 7 lines.
According to police, earlier, on an average in a day 500 to 600 calls of different nature were received, related to inquires, accidents, fights, fire and so on.