With the fast-changing world, introducing technology-driven solutions in policing is crucial, says NTR District Commissioner of Police SV Rajasekhar Babu in an exclusive interview with TNIE’s Phanindra Papasani. Emphasising the need for utilising the available technology in the field of policing to serve people better, he elaborates on various initiatives launched to control cyber crime and for traffic management.
Excerpts:
Having served four months as NTR CP, what are some of the major issues that have come to your attention and how do you plan to resolve them?
NTR district has a mix of both urban and rural population. People in Vijayawada are socially aware and educated. So coming up with best practices that will benefit both demographies is challenging. Ganja consumption and peddling, and traffic management are some of the other issues the police department encounter regularly. Vijayawada city police achieved another milestone in ganja eradication through the collective efforts of police, health department and other organisations. We have successfully controlled illegal transportation and peddling of ganja. As a result, several gangs have become inactive. Special care is being taken to create awareness among youngsters on the adverse effects of consuming ganja and other narcotic substances. When it comes to crime and atrocities against women, Vijayawada city police are working relentlessly to ensure their safety.
What steps are you taking to control cyber crimes?
Greed in people to earn easy money and lack of cyber security awareness are the main reasons for the rise of cyber crimes. In order to educate public on cyber crimes, we have launched a special mobile application ‘Cyber Citizen’. It has videos to educate people about the crime and preventive measures to avoid being cheated. As of now, we have more than two lakh active members registered in the app and they are sharing information of cyber crime patterns and measures. Additionally, we introduced Cyber Soldiers and Cyber Commandos to spread awareness among the general public. It is a positive sign as youngsters are taking an active role in educating people.
How has Vijayawada police incorporated technology in day-to-day policing activities and traffic management?
As part our measures towards implementing ‘Technology-driven enforcement’, we have developed a mobile application named ‘Actionable intelligence for Sustainable Traffic Management, ASTraM. With the help of drones and CCTV cameras, linked with the operation command control room, the app collects data, which can help the ground level staff to receive instructions on traffic related updates and also regulate the traffic during congestions. During any untoward incidents, drones help police in a big way for assessment of situations. This way we can send reinforcements and bring the situation under control. At present, we have four drones in operation and we are trying to provide at least one drone to each for all the 28 police stations in the district so that they can use them for both law and order as well as traffic duties. In several instances, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has advised for enhanced use of drones to get quicker and accurate results. We are also using drones to survey transportation of sand at all stock points to avoid stocking. In addition, we are collecting the fingerprints and details of all the suspect sheeters, rowdy sheeters and other criminals in order to monitor them. Soon, facial recognition cameras will be installed in all major junctions of the city to monitor movement of problematic persons. We are implementing several initiatives such as e-pahara, beat monitoring, drones, and special teams to identify black spots.
Traffic management remains an unsolved puzzle. What measures have been taken to control the growing traffic?
In addition to the existing signals, 17 new and advanced signals have been installed under the integrated traffic management system project. These new signals will be having a public addressing system and will be operated/monitored from the command control room for better results.