How Thiruvananthapuram City Police is leveraging mobility to ensure citizen safety

There has been a steep rise in the number of crime cases in India in the recent years. Despite all discussions, forums, candle light marches, we still read or hear about a rape or molestation case almost on an everyday basis. In the wake of crime incidents, especially against women and senior citizens, increasing at an alarming rate, the need of the hour is to put proactive measures in place to ensure citizen safety and security.

One significant move in this direction has been made by Thiruvananthapuram City Police. The police department has deployed a mobile app - TCP APP - Thiruvananthapuram City Police App.

Developed by UST Global, TCP app has a feature ‘isafe’, which helps citizens to maintain a direct contact with police personnel during emergencies. The app enables users to send instant alerts to the police control room by using the panic button or just by the long press of volume rocker (down) key of the mobile phones.

For example, in case of danger a woman can press the panic button or volume rocker (down) key of the mobile phone for few seconds and can get real-time police assistance. An alert is sent to the police control room along with the location, subscriber ID and IMEI number of the mobile.

Once the police control room receives the alert, vehicle that is available at the nearest location is sent to rescue the victim. The police force is equipped with tablets and can track the position on handheld devices and also at the control room.

Improving citizen services

Apart from ensuring citizen safety, the app is being used by the Thiruvananthapuram City Police to enhance the quality of service provided to the public. The app helps people to connect to emergency services like control room, ambulance, hospitals and fire services in and around the city.

Further, the app also helps the city police to ensure road safety. The app helps people to be aware of various traffic rules, penalties and report any violations of laws they encounter.

Available for all platforms, the app has enabled the city police to significantly reduce its response time to emergencies.  Looking at the positive impact, UST Global is working on providing the app to other state police forces.