The Delhi Police’s idea of reducing the response time of Police Control Room vehicles by equipping them with the latest technology has been shelved due to lack of a back-up control room.
Earlier this year, the Delhi Police Operations Department had initiated the procedure of procuring a laptop/netbook like device called toughbook that can act as the first responder to any call besides acting as an intelligence unit for the department. However, the process has now hit a roadblock as the Delhi Police are planning to set up a new control room.
“A toughbook is a GPS-enabled device which can be connected to the central control room. As soon as a call is made on the number 100, the same message will be flashed on the screen of the toughbook and the PCR van which is nearest to the crime spot will be able to attend to the call,” said a senior police officer.
“However, we will not be able to install this device in PCR vans anytime soon because we are waiting to get a new control room. The existing control room needs to be updated and we cannot rely on it for installing a system that needs a strong back-end support. We need to have a back-up control room in case anything goes wrong with this one. Only then will we be able to install toughbook,” he added.
On being asked about the new control room, the officer said that they were waiting for the work on the new police headquarters building to start. Apart from receiving text messages on screen, the toughbook also receives and transmits audio and video messages. It is a GPS and GPRS-enabled system used for transferring all types of commands.
The device will also be connected to the central crime record server, which will equip it with information about criminals and stolen vehicles. Information about any suspicious person or vehicle will be transmitted within seconds.
The device is manufactured by Panasonic and was showcased at the recently concluded International Police Expo at Pragati Maidan.
