Mumbai : Soon, all police stations in the city will soon be given one SUV each to specially attend to incidents involving safety of women and children.
A state government initiative, it will be officially launched on November 23 and will involve giving each of the 94 police stations an SUV each. Officials said that the vehicles will constantly patrol the area and will be stationed in crowded or isolated patches in the area. The vehicles will have a GPS tracker installed which will indicate its exact location to the control room.
This will enable control room officials to summon the nearest vehicle even if the crime has occurred in some other police station’s jurisdiction.
“When any helpline receives a distress call, the control room will locate the nearest available vehicle using the GPS-based live tracking system. This vehicle will then be informed and rushed to the spot,” said Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy commissioner and Mumbai police spokesperson. “This move will cut the response time down to at least five to 10 minutes. Earlier the beat policemen and other patrolling cars attached to the police station would have to be summoned, causing delay.”
Officials informed that the patrol vehicle will also look out for possible harassment and molestation incidents that occur in crowded places.
“The vehicles will at any given time have three to four policewomen who will be equipped with cane shields and batons,” said Kulkarni.
The SUVs will be pressed into service soon after the launch on November 23.
