Check out Pink Patrol, the new security app for women in Bengaluru

51 patrol cars will be added to the existing fleet of 221 vehicles, taking the total to 272 vehicles

In view of his government's priority of making Bengaluru streets safe for women, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday unveiled Pink Hoysala patrol fleet vehicles, and Suraksha mobile phone panic applications, to attend to emergency alerts sent to the control room. 

While Siddaramaiah flagged off Pink Hoysala on Monday, Home Minister G Parameshwara will launch the Suraksha mobile app.

The department has acquired 51 of these vehicles after the mass molestation incident in Bengaluru on the New Year’s Eve and recent incidents of crimes against women in several areas of the information technology hub. 

Equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) units and cameras, new vehicles will soon be added to the existing fleet of 221 in the city, taking the total to 272 vehicles. The patrol cars will be stationed at sensitive locations frequented by women and children. 

The Suraksha app will enable listing of at least two contacts who could be reached in the event of an emergency, along with the police when the power button on the app is pressed five times. Doing so will send an alert to the command centre, which will pin the location through a live vehicle-tracking system. 

The police have identified several hot spots, including colleges, offices, temples, shopping malls and theatres where Pink Hoysalas will be stationed.

City police commissioner Praveen Sood told Bangalore Mirror that they will initially have women personnel in the Pink Hoysalas only during the day shifts and the remaining two eight-hour shifts for these patrols will have male cops on duty, as there is an acute shortage of women police personnel in the city. 

Additionally, the police will conduct review meetings at regular intervals to gauge crimes against women and restructure the sanctioned areas on the city crime graph. 

The app, developed by the Bengaluru city police IT team, has been downloaded more than 5,000 times. It is available on both Android and iOS platforms.