BENGALURU: In an attempt to involve the public in curbing traffic violations, a newer version of the Public Eye application was launched by Bengaluru Traffic Police in association with ichangemycity.com, a hyper-local social network on Thursday.
Inaugurating the application, City Police Commissioner N S Megharikh said, “The use of social media for Bengalureans has been restricted to complain about incidents, but this has not helped in solving the cases. People must be proactive on social media in giving information about crimes so that we can crack the cases in real-time. Informants’ identity will be protected.”
He said police constables can also use the application to give information on the incident real-time. He asked Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem to inform police officials to make the best use of technology in policing.
He said a few two-wheeler riders who violate traffic rules cause several accidents in the city. Saleem said, “28,908 traffic violators have been booked after the launch of the public eye since November 2012. These were complaints received via the application.”
Saleem said it would be impossible for the police to nab traffic violators without the active involvement of the public. “There are more than 56 lakh vehicles in the city and there is only one policeman for every 5,000 vehicles in the city,” he said.
Better Than Before
The new Public Eye mobile application launched on Thursday aims to overcome a few of the shortcomings of the previous version.
In the older application launched in 2012, users did not have the option of uploading multiple images and the image size was restricted to 200kb. “The present Public Eye application has the ability to upload multiple images and there is no restriction on file size,” said Rajith, product manager of ichangemycity.com.
In the earlier version, users must open the app to take a photo and have to enter the details about the place and crime. The complainant should also enter his/her name to file complaing.
Rajith said now it was not necessary to open the app. “If GPS is active, the location will be detected automatically when the user clicks and uploads the photo. A one-time registration is enough too,” he added.
“The new Public Eye mobile app works on a simple mantra of aim-click-send,” he said. The user must capture a clear image where the vehicle registration number is clearly visible. “The Bengaluru Traffic Police will issue notices to the errant drivers/two-wheeler riders and take action,” he said.
Shortage of cops
Speaking about the shortage of police personnel, the commissioner said, “For seven years, not even a single police constable has been recruited, though around 5,000 constables have retired. What can help us is the state government’s green signal to recruit 8,000 police personnel.”