‘66 services on police app, use them for your personal security, assistance 24x7’

C SYLENDRA BABU, DGP

CHENNAI: Kaaval Uthavi, an app launched by Chief Minister MK Stalin, has revolutionised the service delivery of the Tamil Nadu Police Department. The public can now avail 66 different services at the press of a button in their Android mobile phones, and they have the security of an armed cop escorting them all through the journey.

The moment you press the emergency button, you’re connected to the police control room, which is manned by cops trained in interpersonal skills. The mobile phone camera of the caller will be switched on automatically, and cops in the control room can view what the emergency was indeed.

If you prefer online complaints, you can attach a video or a document, and can even register a criminal case, and thus set the criminal law into motion.

Having taken the recourse for the app, you’re instantly connected to a responsible police officer who would keep calling you to check if your problem was addressed to your satisfaction. This is the ultimate safety app for women travelling alone, especially at night.

A woman can pair with a buddy in WhatsApp and this buddy can monitor her till the time of emergency, when the cop joins as the third party and will perform the rest of the safety protocol. The buddy who monitors the movement of auto-rickshaw or a cab can alert the police if the driver is taking a different route, so that the police can reach the location of the vehicle even before predators have reached the destination.

Motor vehicle drivers would need ‘Kaaval Uthavi’ even more, and here’s why! When you meet with an accident and want to find the name and number of the nearest police station, all you have to do is to find the icon ‘nearest police station’ on the app and press the button.

The location-enabled app can help you navigate your way to the station via Google map. An additional use is that you can pay the challan of MV violation online through this app.

There are other uses as well. The stage of a case, for instance, which a person had filed in the station can be found on this app, as it’s linked to the CCTNS — police department’s information system. The app also enables you to avail services like police verification reports, lost document report, vehicle verification reports, etc.

None can deny that cybercime is the crime of 21st century. There are several cases of criminals siphoning off huge sums of money from bank accounts online. For the police, it is a long haul, and at times a futile investigation, to trace and then to track the culprits, who reside mostly in foreign countries or in distant part of India. In either case, recovering the money is a remote possibility.

The only solution is to freeze the money through the toll-free helpline 1930, which enables the customer to stop transferring money to another account within 24 hours. A user can press the button for ‘cyber financial fraud’, talk to a cop and safeguard his money before it’s transferred to an account in a foreign country.

Nearly 22 other department’s tollfree numbers are integrated with this app and the customers do not have to remember any of them to avail these services.

‘Service Delivery’ is our catch word, and to achieve that goal, the Tamil Nadu Police we have handed over ‘Kaaval Uthavi’, into the hands of the public. What a responsible citizen should do is to just download it. You’ll never know when emergency strikes.

— The writer is DGP - Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu