The mobile application of the Thiruvananthapuram City police, iSafe, aimed at helping women alert the police when in danger, will soon have a few more upgrades.
One of them will send an alert to the nearest policeman once the app’s panic button is pressed.
The upgrade, expected to be released shortly, will be mainly for Android phones, and, according to H. Venkatesh, City Commissioner, will help the Control Room know the exact location of policemen using Android phones in the city.
This in turn will help the Control Room alert policemen nearest to the spot from where a woman in danger presses the panic button on the mobile application.
Effective services
“Most of the men in the force have Android phones. Once the upgrade is released, this will help us know where exactly these policemen are and to utilise their services in a much more effective way than now,” Mr. Venkatesh said. iSafe, developed by Information Technology solutions and service provider UST Global and launched as TCP in August last year, was relaunched in March this year with increased focus on women’s safety. The panic button is the most crucial feature of iSafe, which has bagged several awards, mostly for use of technology for empowerment and safety.
Another feature that is likely to be added to the app, Mr. Venkatesh said, was to enable it to send the mobile number, name of user, and other details, apart from the location, to the Control Room and the nearest policemen once the panic button was clicked.
No distress calls yet
Though no distress calls have yet been received via the app, the Commissioner said there were many responses from the public that said the presence of the app on mobiles was a major confidence booster. “We are testing the accuracy of locations sent by the app and the response of the police too. Knowledge that such an app is available with women is a major deterrent for criminals,” he said.
iSafe has been downloaded onto over 5,000 phones so far with information on traffic violations and fines; facility to report an offence, along with photographs, by sending e-mails to the Commissioner; information on speed limits; facility to track nearest police stations; emergency numbers; and a variety of safety tips being the additional features.
