Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday flagged off a fleet of 98 emergency response vehicles (ERVs) to ensure people in distress receive help on time.
Equipped with Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) and GPS, the vehicles will be the first responders to crime scenes and stationed at police stations in all 28 police districts across the state.
Mann said the launch was “yet another step” towards modernising and updating policing to aid people. The ERVs offer immediate action as opposed to the earlier system of manually noting distressed people’s complaints and acting on them. The CM said the vehicles will be connected to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) a centralised call receiving centre for Dial 112, with the help of MDTs.
The real-time location of these vehicles will be available at Dial 112 control rooms and District Coordinator Centre (DCC) with the help of mobile data terminal devices.
Punjab, being a border state, has been targeted by several bad-faith actors in order to disturb its “hard-earned peace,” the CM said. However, he added that the police have always foiled such attempts. It is therefore imperative, according to Mann, that the police force is updated and modernised to keep up with the advancements in the fields of investigation, science and technology.
