In order to quicken response time and preventing the perennial issue of misuse of police vehicles, the Kerala police would be installing Global Positioning System (GPS) in police vehicles across the state.
According to police officials, 600 GPS devices will be bought to be installed in police vehicles, mainly in vehicles with the police control room and Highway police.
An official in police headquarters said the GPS system will have a high resolution digital mapping facility, which would connect police vehicle with the police control room in each district.
“One of the reasons for installing the GPS system is to quicken the response time of the police. Now it takes over 15 minutes for the police to locate the crime spot and reach there. By installing the GPS system, the control room can rightly direct the vehicle and the police can reach the crime spot within 10 minutes. Besides, control room officials can also monitor night-patrolling duties.
There were allegations regarding the misuse of vehicle by policemen for their personal needs. Once fitted with the GPS system, police vehicles would be under surveillance,” a police official said.
The installation of the system would be done in different phases.
In the first phase, vehicles under the control room would get the device. In the next phase, all the vehicles would be fitted with the GPS system.
“A new set of vehicles have been given to the police control room and Highway police across the the state. Control room police were given Tavera SUV while Highway police were provided with Innova SUV.
We are adopting the new technology for enhancing the policing activities in the state and to raise its standard of functioning on a par with the police in other states,” a top police official said.
Earlier, vehicles of the control room in Kochi City police were enabled with GPS technology.
However, some policemen allegedly dismantled the system so that they cannot be traced by the higher officials.
The police are still making efforts to get the disabled GPS system repaired.