Pune cops dial in a smart digital response

The efforts of the Pune police to digitise the control room has begun paying dividends. After the initiative, the number of calls handled by the control room has substantially increased along with a reduction in cases of wrong information and manual errors.

The control room now handles around 35,000 calls per day, up from 25,000 in 2016-2017. This is a significant improvement over the earlier system, said officials. Integrated voice recordings and call logs ensure retrospective queries are responded to quickly, thereby building credibility with citizens, judicial systems and the media. The insightful reports generated also provides the police control room with key data points for optimal deployment of resources. The result of the initiative is a more positive user experience for the distressed caller which instills greater confidence in the police force. 

The Pune police was looking to modernise their control room  when Persistent Systems, a technology services company, came forward to support and assist them in their  endeavour in 2015.The first phase of the project was commissioned live in February 2016, with a capacity of 10 call-takers. In 2017, the capacity of the control room was extended to support 24 call-takers.

The Dial-100 initiative automates control room operations from challan creation to routing the challan to the correct dispatcher while tracking and recording all related activities till the challan is closed. The solution is scalable and based on demand, the number of call-takers can be increased within a short period of time. 

Regarding the successful implementation of the initiative, Rashmi Shukla, Pune police commissioner said, “The modernised control room improves response time and we can now provide timely assistance to those who need it. Initially there were four to five lines, but now 18 dedicated lines are open for citizens to lodge their complaints. Persistent Systems has helped us build a state-of-the-art digitised police control room, fully operational and linked to the emergency number - 100. Police can now respond to the caller and reach the destination within a short span of five to eight minutes. The technology has helped build confidence and trust in the police and we are now just a phone call away,” she said.

According to Shukla, the police control room performs a very critical function and acts as a central gateway for any citizen in need of help in the city. Pune police has always been ready to embrace technology to better serve the citizens of the city. Persistent Systems has helped the Pune police achieve this goal by transforming its control room.