The police have introduced an e-beat system at the field level using technology to ensure safety of senior citizens staying alone with no support at remote places. A case of murder of an elderly couple who stayed alone at Allinagaram a couple of months ago had prompted the police to take the initiative, say the police.
They identified 53 houses of senior citizens residing alone in Perambalur district which has eight law and order police stations in Perambalur and Mangalamedu sub divisions besides an all women police station. The e-beat system has been introduced with an app which the field-level beat constables have downloaded in their respective mobile phones and QR code stickers in the size of a A-4 paper having been pasted at the 53 houses, says the Superintendent of Police, Perambalur, S. Mani adding that the system was introduced a week ago.
Upon reaching the houses of senior citizens residing alone, the beat constables would open the app and scan the QR code which would provide details of the person including their name and the village besides the jurisdictional police station. The beat constables would interact with the elderly persons for some time to build a sense of security among them and try to address their immediate needs that could be done by them.
The e-beat system would enable the superior officers to easily monitor whether the beat constables had made periodic visits to such houses as the information under this initiative would land to the technical team. Information relating to the name of the beat constable, the time at which he had visited the house, the name of the village and the date would automatically land to the system of the technical team working at the district headquarters. The beat constables serving at the police stations would make a visit once in three weeks to the houses of senior citizens residing alone, says Mr. Mani.
Although the system of marching beats is already in place at the field level, it has been extended making use of technology to houses where senior citizens resided alone. The e-beat system would be monitored and the gaps and lacunae would be addressed wherever found, says Mr. Mani.
