Virtually handing the ‘power’ in the hands of the people to defend themselves, the Punjab Police has launched ‘Shakti’ mobile application.
Designed especially for the womenfolk, the app is aimed at helping the victims in troubled times like the incidents of snatching, robbery, or other criminal activity. “All you have to do is download the application, which is available for both android-based mobile phones and i-phones, register yourself, and the Punjab police would be at your service,” a senior Punjab Police official told The Pioneer.
The best part of this app is that it would work even if the mobile is stolen, or was switched off after theft, “and the information was sent to the concerened SHO where the incident took place via SMS”.
The ‘Shakti’ app provides a “help” button — a one touch alert to notify the Punjab police and the user’s family and friends. “As soon as the user of Shakti app raises the SOS alert from this app, the location information is transmitted to the Punjab Police control room and their predefined numbers. Punjab Police can then immediately send the nearest Police help to the victim,” elaborated the official.
If that is not enough, the bilingual app, English and Punjabi, would also help the police to identify “unsafe” people among the public with their help. “In case, someone finds a suspicious person who looks like a thief or criminal, the user can use “report unsafe” option in the app and click the picture of the suspected person and share it along with the location, and reason for he same,” said the official.
The official said that effort has been made to make the app user friendly and ease to adapt. The location would be tracked by the GPS in the mobiles and would provide the latitude, longitude, and the street address from where the “help” has been sought.
“While designing this app, our main focus was the females, especially young girls, which is the most vulnerable section of the society,” said the official adding, “That was the reason we named it Shakti, symbolic for the strong women”. “There have been series of incidents of rape, loot, snatching, eve-teasing…This app would not only provide them safety and swift action, but also a confidence to move out,” added the official.
Besides being a help in distress, the app also provides contact numbers of all the nearest Police Station’s SHOs to the public. In addition, the Police can also send notifications to the public through this app.
“We are having some problem with the app, as in terms of generating registration key, or the one-time password which is required for completing the application configuration, and we are working on it,” said the official.
The app is available for free in play or app store. One has to register by providing personal information like name, mobile number, e-mail address. Users can also add contact numbers of their 10 friends or family members, to whom the message would be sent in the time of distress along with the police control room.