Chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the third foundation day celebration of the commissionarate in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 2: The commisionerate police of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar will take the help of cutting edge technology to fight crime better this year.

Global positioning system (GPS) will help the commissionerate police to efficiently track the movement of police control room (PCR) vans and other police vehicles in the city.

Police commissioner B.K. Sharma made this announcement at the 3rd Foundation Day function of the commissionerate police inaugurated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The GPS system has already been installed in 26 police vehicles in Bhubaneswar on an experimental basis.

GPS is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable location inputs in all-weather conditions and at all times and in any part of the world. By installing GPS on the PCR vans, police can track their movement from a control room to be located in the commissionerate building that will soon come up.

“At present, we contact PCR vans with the help of VHF sets; GPS will make things easier. In case of emergencies, we can easily locate the van nearest to the place of occurrence,” said a police officer.

GPS will be installed on all PCR vans, police station vehicles and vehicles being used by senior police officers. The system will be extended to Cuttack after successful trial in Bhubaneswar. The technology will be installed on about 60 police vehicles in the capital. The commissioner said a GPS-enabled police control room would be inaugurated in April this year at the new office of the commissionerate police.

Metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and some industrial cities like Ludhiana, which have the commissionerate system in place, are already using the technology. The commissioner also said that a proposal for installing close circuit TV cameras at major traffic intersections was already pending with the government. He said policemen would also be provided training for dealing with new age crimes such as land grabbing and cyber crime.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the chief minister praised the commissionerate of police for tackling crimes effectively and better traffic management.

Director general of police Manmohan Praharaj said the government had given its consent to the recruitment of 400 sub-inspectors and around 1,000 constables.

He said three more police stations would be added to the 39 that exist in the twin cities including two energy police stations and three traffic police stations. The new police stations would be set up at Uttara, Tamando and the Airport area in Bhubaneswar.