The city police on Friday launched a fleet of 30 motorcycles that will be deployed at 30 police stations from Friday and would be the first responders to any distress call to 100 — the police helpline — at Lalbazar.
Senior officers said the “Dial-100” motorcycles had been rolled out to reduce the reaction time of the cops after receiving a distress call.
The Telegraph reported on May 12 about the project, which Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal launched on Friday.
“Thirty bikes were launched on Friday and 42 more will be launched next month. Each of the 72 police stations in the Kolkata police area will get a Dial-100 bike,” said an officer.
According to the earlier practice, after the Lalbazar control room receives a distress call, it shares details of the incident with the police station in whose area the incident happened. The police station then alerts the nearest police patrol van, which goes to the spot.
Following the introduction of Dial-100 bikes, details about a distress call will be shared directly with the Dial-100 motorcycle deployed at the police station concerned.
An officer at Lalbazar explained how the new system will work. “Once we receive a call, we will be able to see the location of the phone from where the distress call is being made. The officer answering the call at Lalbazar will type the nature of the distress call on a screen in front of him/her and press an alert button. A message with the details of the caller, along with the address and nature of the distress call, will start blinking on a screen on the bike stationed at the police station concerned,” said an inspector at Lalbazar.
Each bike has a data monitor so the officer riding it will be able to access the details of the person who made the distress call. The officer on the bike will file an “action taken” report after addressing the problem. The report will be generated in the system and can be accessed from the Dial 100 system at Lalbazar.
“In this way, we will be able to monitor the response time and the quality of response to such calls,” the officer said.
As of now, on average eight minutes pass by the time a police patrol van reaches the spot after the distress call, according to the police records. Senior officers said the response time will be significantly reduced with the introduction of the Dial 100 bikes.
The control room at the Kolkata police headquarters in Lalbazar, which runs the Dial 100 system, is equipped to take 30 distress calls simultaneously, officers said.
