Digital radio technology to help track police personnel in India

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police will turn to digital radio technology to keep an eye on errant policemen who are either negligent in duty or indulge in corrupt practices.

Police top brass have zeroed in on the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra) technology that helps wireless sets held by policemen in the field to also serve as tracking instruments.

"Tetra is connected with the global positioning system [GPS] that helps in tracking the location of police personnel and vehicles," said an official. The technology will ensure that policemen are actually functioning at the place they have been assigned.

It will also help seniors locate and contact policemen in case there are public complaints of harassment against them.

Flying squads

"There have been several complaints of negligence in duty and corruption against personnel of flying squads. The new system will help us in cracking down on errant officers," the official added, not wishing to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media. "The system through which the location of the officers and vehicles are identified is called automatic vehicle and personnel tracking application," he said.

"At present, the city police have no such device to track the exact location of policemen. So with the introduction of Tetra, senior officers will be able to monitor the whereabouts of others and track vehicles," he added.

Kolkata Police have 26,000 personnel to man 5 million people.