Over the last week, following the disturbing and heinous crimes against women, citizens are more concerned and vigilant about their safety. A few days ago, citizens were requested to download the Bengaluru City Police Suraksha App (which can be downloaded on both android and Apple phones). The app, so far, according to a recent report by The Hindu, has been downloaded about 40,000 times! The app connects users to the police control room to get help immediately. Even though some have said the app works well, others have complained that the interface and registering on it is a tedious process. Be that as it may, the fact that the government and citizens are raising awareness on women’s safety is encouraging.
You can also download the 112 emergency helpline app, introduced by the Government of India. In which one can send out a request for help by pressing a button to relay emergency messages. The Karnataka government launched 112 as an emergency number on mobile phones about a month ago. We, at MetroPlus , dialled 112 to see if it works. A lady immediately took our call and informed that it is working and is meant for services such as police, fire, and health during emergencies.
Among the several safety apps, My Safetipin app has been around since 2013. Kalpana Viswanath, co-founder and CEO of Safetipin, says: “It has had several updates since 2013. There have been about 100,000 downloads of the app all over India so far.” There are five key features, she adds: “When you open the app, it will give you safety score wherever you are. This safety score is calculated on the basis of two things — an audit is carried out based on eight parameters, such as street lights, the number of people there, transport, and more. You can also do a safety audit yourself. Each road, based on the pins of each audit is marked in red, yellow, or green, (where red is unsafe and green is safe). We also have a safest route feature, in which if you are going from point A to point B, it will give you the safety score of each route. We have a tracking feature, which is, in a place you don’t feel safe you can ask someone to track you. You can either do an audit or express how you feel with a smiley. We also have safetipin night app.”
Kalpana adds there have been a couple of thousand audits in Bengaluru. She states that this is not an emergency app: “A number of emergency apps have been launched, but we don’t believe any private party will give you safety. I don’t want to give false beliefs. My Safetipin is to help women move about safely, it is not an emergency app.” The second user of the app, says Kalpana, are city and municipal entities. “They work with us to see what changes can be made, such as improving streets, putting more street lights, and improving last mile connectivity. We had in fact partnered with BPac. We have also looked into safety around bus stops and even in places where there wasn’t much public transport available.”
