Why Bangalore Police Department is gathering accolades from people across India?
The Bangalore Traffic Police (City Police too), is probably one of the most tech-savvy Police Departments, at least in India. I have lived in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore — IMHO these guys are definitely the most tech savvy. Bangalore is the hub of a lot of technological innovations in India, but that doesn’t mean that we take the excellence of this Department for granted! Let me give you some of the instances of why I think they are the best:
- They had adopted to Blackberry in around 2008–09. With an attached mini printer, they could punch in and print a traffic violation receipt instantly. With an integrated database, they could also check all your past violations right in front of you! This was made by Bharti Airtel.
- During the same time, each of these traffic police officers were also given Digital Cameras (of the likes of Kodak and Nikon / Canon) so that they could click pictures / record people violating traffic rules and complaints could be registered within the systems later on (as most traffic violators in India tend to run away as soon as a cop tries to approach them like this.
- Around 2009, they started with pilot of surveillance cameras to monitor traffic & minimize violations. 6–7 important traffic signals in CBD (Kumble Circle, BRV Signal, Brigade Road Signal, etc.) were set-up. Post a successful trial, they went on to installing them across most junctions in the city. As of today, over 425 cameras have been installed across the city traffic junctions. They are looking to multiply these numbers drastically in the coming years.
- In 2013, they inaugurated the Traffic Management Centre on Infantry Road, Bangalore. This is one of it’s kind surveillance centre. The Traffic Monitoring Room in there, houses a huge video wall at a cost of Rs 7 crores, comprising of 64 LED back lit 24X7 cubes of 70’’. I had gone there on the inauguration day as it was open for public & I was amazed at the kind of tracking that happened there in-real time. They would analyze and make changes in traffic signal timings based on density of traffic in the areas & predictions for coming hours. All emergency situations / going through past records is also done here.
- Apart from this, they have a very strong tracking system integrated within the server — now all the real-time surveillance from the cameras directly are run on an image processing software which automatically captures your vehicle details & generates a violation receipt. These are then reviewed by a person (to ensure no error in image processing) and added against your vehicle number. You cannot get away from this as they have a proof of you violating a certain traffic rule at a specific place and time!! And AFAIK, their systems were enabled by ML — their accuracy have improved over time.
- Social Media engagement of Bangalore Police is phenomenal. Follow their twitter, facebook or instagram account to keep getting witty posts on why you need to follow traffic rules. Check out this or this for now.!
7. Bangalore City Police has revamped the entire helpline system with just one number now — 100, also called the Namma 100 initiative, with the motive of 15–15 : Connect to a person in less than 15 seconds, police reaching the help location (anywhere across Bangalore) in less than 15 minutes. And if I am not wrong, they are doing good at maintaining the numbers currently & have been able to spread awareness effectively.!
8. App based assistance — multiple apps with really good features for women safety / traffic updates across city / etc. have also been launched.! Many are made by them, many in association. Just check out the android play store to see how proactive they are.
While all of this look not-so-unimaginable if you’re even a little tech savvy, implementing it in one of the fastest growing metro cities is India, where a ride to airport might be longer than your flight duration from BLR to Delhi, is extremely challenging! Kudos to all the crazy Bengaluru — loving folks in the team for so much hardwork!
I have been following some of the IPS / Commissioners / other senior folks of the Police Department in Bangalore and I can clearly see how much they have been pushing for all of these measure! To make the police, truly a part of the city!!
While all of these are amazing initiatives, there’s something that the Police Department is still missing! Follow me here and you’ll not miss my next piece about it!!
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P.S. — I am Bangalorean, transforming to a Bengalurean! :)
