TETRA  |  2012-04-25

Chennai cops to get new digital wireless network

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

The system will definitely help resolve many problems, said Chennai police commissioner J K Tripathy

The state police will get a digital wireless network system for better communication within the force, it was announced in the budget for the home, prohibition andexcisedepartmentsin the state assembly on Tuesday.

The system, which was installed in Salem and Tirunelveli a few months ago and found to be successful, is to be in place in Madurai and Coimbatore soon and will be implemented later in Chennai and Trichy.

It will use Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification designedfor use by government agencies, emergency services (police, fire and ambulance services ), public safety networks, transport services andthe military.

"The project is almost complete in Madurai and Coimbatore where it will be inaugurated soon. The proposal for Chennai and Trichy will start soon," P N Mahadevan, managing director of Chennai-based Purple Infotech Limited and project head, told TOI.

Inspector-general of police (Tirunelveli ) Karuna Sagar said, "it helped us track those hanging up on those in the control room after calling '100'. Patrol teams can be directed to the nearest GPS-fitted vehicle to reach a place and resolve the problem in an emergency. A real-time monitor helps police check the movementof patrol vehicles."

The system will definitely help resolve many problems, said Chennai police commissioner J K Tripathy. "An automaticcalldistribution system in the control room logs in details of complainant calls and action taken on them. Each call is assigned a unique number and details of the complaintstored againstit.Thisis passedon to a policestation or patrol vehicle and the action taken is recorded," hesaid.

People can track the status of their complaint by calling the control room at any time. The conversation between the operator and police official is recorded and logged for future reference.

The GPS-based Automatic Vehicle Locator tracks the movement of patrol vehicles. TETRA radios in the patrol vehicles are equipped with integrated GPS module and data from these GPS modules are sent to the control room through a Short Data Service at preconfiguredintervals.

In Salem and Tirunelveli, sources said, the GPS data of patrol vehicles were plotted on a digital map helping police officers with the required security clearance view the vehicles' position. When a police officer receives a call from a member of the public, thelocation of the caller along with the position of the nearest patrol vehicle shows up on a computer screen allowing the officer to direct the patrol vehicle to the said site.

Source: India TImes