GPS comes handy for police on poll duty

The Police Department had installed GPS facility in around 500 cell phones of their officers on poll duty for tracking their position

Global Positioning System (GPS), a satellite-based navigation system, came handy for the Krishna district and Vijayawada city police to keep a close watch on the proceedings and ensuring the peaceful conduct of the elections on Wednesday.

The Police Department had installed GPS facility in around 500 cell phones of their officers on poll duty for tracking their position to deal with any emergency situation effectively. The district police had acquired the necessary software and technological support from a private company.

Speaking to

The Hindu on Thursday, District Superintendent of Police J. Prabhakara Rao said GPS tracking helped the police in conducting the elections without any major disturbance.

“We remained connected to 388 mobile phones of officers of sub-inspector to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) ranks heading 276 mobile parties, 100 striking forces and 12 special striking forces on the polling day,” he said, adding that each assigned route had five to ten villages and the GPS tracked the movement of the parties. “In addition to wireless sets, we used the GPS that helped us communicate the messages quickly,” said Mr. Rao.

The software indicated the location and movement of a particular police party in the assigned areas, irrespective of weather conditions. The control room police could alert the special party police about any trouble in the vicinity. GPS also made the officers more accountable, the SP added.

Vijayawada City police too used GPS for better communication among the police parties deployed as paert of the election bandobust and it facilitated easy coordination, the police said.