Top cop targets patrol vehicles with faulty GPS

New police commissioner sees red as many cops in patrol vans seen idling outside bars late at night

Top cop targets patrol vehicles with faulty GPS

New police commissioner sees red as many cops in patrol vans seen idling outside bars late at night

In just under a week of taking over as the Mumbai Commissioner of Police, Arup Patnaik has cracked the whip on the men in khaki. After delivering a six-point agenda for cops to follow on duty, Patnaik has taken the police patrol vehicles to task.

Withu00a0GPS andu00a0GIS systems in place, police vans will not be able to while away at night

According to reports, patrol vans that were meant to scan and screen the streets of Mumbai were seen whiling away at late-night eateries and bars.
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A surprise check by Patnaik revealed that the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) devices installed in at least 40 patrol vans were non-functional.

He immediately ordered all the vehicles to be hauled up and the devices repaired and functional. "All the devices will be functional within a few days and the vehicles cannot stray out anymore," said Patnaik.

With all the GPS systems fixed, police vehicles straying on official work that cannot be traced will be passe.
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Police patrolling vans that have functional GPS systems installed are connected to the control room and their
location can be traced at the click of a button.

The functional GPS systems will also help the police improve their response time to emergency calls. The current average response time is 6 minutes.

In 2008, the Mumbai police control rooms was fitted with GIS and GPS system was installed in around 300 police vehicles.
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Once the control room gets a call, in a matter of three to five seconds, they can trace the call to a specific location.

They will know the location of the nearest patrolling vehicle and get information like traffic congestion on the street.

Howu00a0GPS helps
The main police control room is equipped with 25 computer terminals with GIS, and one each for the four regional control rooms and the traffic control room. It helps in better connectivity and tracing of police vans that can be rushed to a spot during an emergency call or a disaster.