SAMARTH app helpful to Bapatla police

Bapatla: The SAMARTH mobile app played a major role in helping the Bapatla district police conduct the recent municipal elections and the MPTC and ZPTC elections held on Thursday peacefully. District SP B Umamaheswar said the app helped police teams reach trouble spots within minutes.

The SP launched the app before the municipal and local body elections to help police manage security. The control room can see every officer’s live location on Google Maps. This helped senior officers know where their forces were at all times. The app also helped mark normal and sensitive polling stations, so security could be planned according to local needs. Police personnel on duty can press an SOS button in an emergency. An alert with a siren and vibration then reaches the nearby teams and the command control room. The app also sends a 30-second video, photos, a voice recording, and the location to the control room. Nearby Route Mobile Parties, Striking Parties, and Special Striking Parties can then reach the spot quickly.

The app can also send orders and updates to all police personnel in the district with a single notification. It keeps all officers’ names and phone numbers in one place. Even in areas without the internet, it can deliver information through notifications. The IT Core team at the District Police Headquarters monitored the app and coordinated with officers using live data.

The app was first tested in the municipal polls of Chirala and Repalle on Sunday. Polling ended peacefully in 44 wards of Chirala and 36 wards of Repalle. The SP said the app helped staff respond quickly and keep peace more effectively.

For the MPTC and ZPTC elections, the district had 593 polling locations in 351 villages. Of these, 138 were sensitive, and 92 were hyper sensitive. A total of 1188 police officers and staff were on duty. The police formed 29 zones and 78 routes, with 78 route mobile parties and 18 striking parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Naresh Nandam

Naresh.Nandam[email protected]

Naresh Babu Nandam works as a Special Correspondent at The Hans India and primarily covers the erstwhile Prakasam district. He has a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and a bachelor's degree in Law. He has around twenty years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. He is a certified Google News Initiative trainer for fact-checking and online verification. Outside his journalism work, he is an OSINT practitioner and takes part in CTF challenges. He is the author of a spiritual thriller titled 'The Amber Scroll', available on Amazon.in.

Read More