Women safety: Andhra CM flags off 163 DISHA patrolling vehicles

Amaravati, March 23:  In a bid to control crime against women and enhance DISHA surveillance, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday flagged off 163 DISHA patrolling vehicles which will improve and strengthen visible policing, a key component of curbing crime.

All of these four-wheelers are equipped with a dedicated GPS tracking system for direct monitoring from the District Unit Control Room. These patrol vehicles carry out continuous patrols in crime prone areas, officials said.

"The vehicles will help improve response times to women and children in emergency situations" Reddy said.

The vehicles will be able to identify and map all possible crime areas within each police station limit, as well as identify and map details of past crime, time and place.

The 163 new patrolling vehicles are in addition to the already existing 900 two-wheelers currently used for patrolling in all the police stations limits across the state. Funds have been allocated for the purchase of 163 vehicles of Direction Patrolling four wheelers at a cost of Rs 13.85 crore. In addition, Rs 5.5 crore has already been allocated for this operation.

In addition to the existing 900 two-wheelers and 163 four-wheeler direction patrol vehicles, more than 3,000 emergency vehicles are now being connected to the control room at the police headquarters along with the DISHA control room set up at 18 police units across the state for quick response to citizens in case of emergencies. This allows police to reach out to victims by a special SOS features (any woman in danger can alert the local police by just shaking her phone five times or pressing the SOS button in the app). These specialised vehicles help to reduce the response time from 4-5 minutes in urban areas to 8-10 minutes in the same rural areas.

The DISHA mobile application has already been downloaded by 1.16 crore women on their mobile phones, Reddy noted.

With more women joining the police department, the government also introduced 18 caravans or mobile restrooms for women police personnel on duty in public places.