Chennai Police’s response time to emergency calls is now five minutes, claim officials

Chennai Police’s response time to emergency calls is now five minutes, claim officials

The Greater Chennai City Police (GCP) has said that its response time to emergency calls received via the control room is now five minutes.

The police said the State Police Master Control Room (SPMCR) receives distress calls on the numbers 100/112 from all parts of Tamil Nadu, and forwards them to the city/district control rooms concerned, which in turn communicate the details with patrol vehicles based on their jurisdictional area. The police personnel deployed in the patrol vehicles attend to these calls and deal with the problem, the GCP said.

Listing a few instances, the police said that at 1:30 a.m. on April 7 this year, the control room received a call from R. Venkataramanan, 58, a consultant with an IT firm who resides in West Mambalam, about a burglary. Mr. Venkataramanan, who was abroad at the time, happened to discover through CCTV cameras that unknown persons had gained entry into his home. At 1:34 am, the police arrived at the spot and caught the two burglary suspects red-handed.

Similarly, at 8:40 a.m. on April 19, the police received a call from the public about a woman patient attempting to jump off the fifth floor of a private hospital in Alwarpet. Immediately, a patrolling team, comprising a head constable and a constable, arrived at the spot and got to the fifth floor. They pacified the woman and brought her down, officials said. 

City Police Commissioner A. Arun has instructed police personnel to respond to emergencies and reach a crime scene as soon possible to provide assistance, officials said.

As many as 234 four-wheelers are being used for patrolling in the city. Each police station has a main patrol vehicle, an additional patrol vehicle, a gypsy patrol vehicle, and a special vehicle. Additionally, Amma patrol vehicles are being operated by women police personnel in areas where crimes against women have been reported previously.

“Most police stations have three patrol vehicles now. In some stations, we have four vehicles for this purpose. Their job is to attend to any emergency calls and immediately rush to the spot within five minutes of the receipt of the call. Patrolling teams have been working on a shift basis, round the clock,” said a senior police officer.