KOCHI: Police response time to a call seeking help is imperative in preventing crime or rescuing a person from transgression. Recently, Kerala Police went the extra mile to ensure safety and security for women in the state by launching the ‘Nirbhayam’ app, which claimed the average police response time to be 10 minutes upon receiving the distress call. The app also claimed to have a higher response time in comparison to the 112 phone call.
To examine the efficiency of the app in responding to an emergency alert, Express conducted a real-time test on Tuesday morning involving news correspondents. Police response time based on locating the app user using the mobile tower location system and GPS was also gauged. The result? Coupled with faster response time, police’s approach to the distress alert was found to be more refined. However, some glitches must be immediately addressed to improve functioning and to achieve the desired results.
How events unfolded
12.17pm
Using the Nirbhayam app installed on her mobile phone, our correspondent Gayathri Krishna sends an alert message from a location in the heart of Kochi. The app notifies her of the alert that has been sent. For nearly 23 minutes, there is no response. She waits for the police to turn up at the location.
12.40pm
She receives a call on her mobile phone from a police officer inquiring about her location and if she has contacted the circle inspector
She affirms that she used the Nirbhayam app to send the alert. She then informs the caller about the nearest landmark.
12.43pm
Two police officers including sub-inspector Suresh P V of North police station reach the spot and inquire further details. She informs the officers that she used the app as part of a real-time test to check the police response time.
12.44pm
“I received the alert details including the name of the app user, mobile number and her location in my mobile phone around 12.39pm and I immediately deployed a team to the spot. In fact, it only took four minutes for a team to reach the spot once I received the alert on my phone,” said the circle inspector.
North Station circle inspector Siby Tom reaches the spot.
Glitches & solutions
There was a delay in passing on alert details to the circle officer concerned. It took nearly 22 minutes for the app control room to send the alert details to the police officer. Instead of conveying the alert details to one officer, the system control room should send it to the entire police force on duty in the area and direct the team nearest to reach the spot.
Sending an alert to a specific officer in a police station will delay the response time. If the officer fails to see the alert which is sent to his mobile number on time, it affects the very purpose of using the app.
How Nirbhayam works
A woman in distress has to press and hold the ‘Help’ button in the app for five seconds. The app automatically sends the location to the nearest police control room/police station. Once the distress signal is received in the district control room, it is transmitted immediately to the police team available nearest to the location of the user. The app can be freely downloaded from App Store and Google Play.
Disclaimer: Real-time testing of the Nirbhayam app was done after obtaining necessary permission from the police authorities. The public should not use the app for the same. It should solely be utilised for genuine purposes.
Police personnel are being trained on the app interface. More live testing of the app will be conducted to identify glitches