Hyderabad:
A centralised system on the lines of an emergency response agency like '911' in the United States was launched in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday to enable the police to reach the complainant within minutes.
Under the 'Dial 100' project, the Andhra Pradesh police department has partnered with GVK EMRI to build and operate a unified command and control centre for the entire state.
The integrated 'Dial 100' centre would also co-ordinate other emergency services like medical, fire and other disaster-related response services.
Citizens seeking police assistance during emergencies can lodge a complaint from a mobile phone or a landline from any part of the state by dialling the toll-free emergency number '100' which will be manned by the police department.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who inaugurated the centralised 'Dial-100' system as an "Ugadi (Telugu New Year) gift" to the state at Kompally in Hyderabad, said "people no longer need to go to police station to lodge a complaint. The police will come to your doorstep".
"This integrated system will ensure efficient and quality service delivery to people. Calls made to the helpline will first reach the centralised 'Dial-100' call centre here and complaints once lodged, will be recorded by an Interactive Voice Record System (IVRS) and action taken will be monitored.
"The system will be integrated with a GPS/GIS server, with digital maps of the entire state, so that the location of the caller is identified at the centralised call centre," officials said.
Within 40 seconds after a call is made, the central hub will immediately transfer the complaint content to officials of the nearest police station and mobile patrolling teams of the relevant police station, who will rush a team to the scene of crime, they said.
Inspectors will be deputed to visit police stations under their jurisdiction to review and follow up the progress on complaints.
"This facility will enable citizens across the state access police assistance from even the remotest of locations," Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy said, adding the system is on par with the '911' emergency response system in the USA and other emergency helplines in Western countries.
The response to the caller will begin within 40 seconds after the call is received, he said.
"It is a pilot project and police personnel are being trained," he said.