370 ASIs get Blackberries

Initial reluctance gives way to gradual acceptance

On Wednesday, the project Blackberry assisted traffic enforcement took real shape and in its final phase, as many as 370 assistant sub-inspectors got the hi-tech sets, with bluetooth supported printers.

Additional Commissioner of police (Traffic and security) Praveen Sood admitted that the switch was not easy: “Initially, our officers were reluctant to operate a Blackberry and in order to avoid it, they had also requested for transfer. Now, they have got hooked on to the sets and are not ready to go back to notepad.

Made easy
Speaking on the occasion, Bangalore City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said, “Once 160 surveillance cameras and five enforcement cameras are in place ––– traffic monitoring, regulation and enforcement will become easy. A large number of video supported violation notices will be sent to the motorists, he added.

“Now motorists can view the violation photos on our website, by entering the police notice number. After confirmation, they can even make payments through net. The photographs will automatically get deleted from our database, once the payment is confirmed.”
However, this facility is available only for video captured violations. Home Minister V S Acharya while showering praises on the traffic team said: “I have requested the chief minister to extend the same help and set aside Rs one crore to each traffic police stations. In the days to come, districts and taluk head quarters will also be taken into the fold and upgraded in phased manner,” he said.

“I feel proud when foreign dignitaries and VVIPs approach us for sharing technical know-how and the Bangaloreans will certainly get to feel the change in the coming years,” Acharya said.
DH News Service

Benefits
* Robust database of traffic offenders.
* Real time access to (offense) history of drivers.
* Enhanced punishment for habitual offenders.
* Catching offenders, who do not bother to settle their violation notices, easy.
* Real time management information system (MIS) where performance of each officers, types of vehicles being penalised and type of offenses being booked is accessible over internet in real time.
* No scope for manipulation (eg duplicate receipts and tampering of carbon paper) and pilferage of fine collected.
* It can operate even in the absence of network.
* Clarity about type of offense and the officer booking it.