The Hindu

Mangalore Jun 27: Dakshina Kannada police have introduced electronic beat or 'e-beat' as it is popularly referred to in 25 of their 28 police stations.

Although the system was put in place three months ago, it was not fully operational due to various problems including equipment failure. The district police authorities have since sorted out the problems and given a go-ahead for using the new system.

A major advantage of e-beat system is that it thrusts greater accountability on the police constables assigned with a particular beat. Hitherto, the constables working either on day-beat or night-beat used to sign and enter the time in the point books kept at pre-designated places. Additional Superintendent of Police B.S. Lokesh Kumar told The Hindu here on Tuesday that the district police had put the system through a trial run for three months to find out its shortcomings, if a ny. "We experienced problems with a few card readers issued to beat constables as well as Radio Frequency Identification Devise (RFID) tags fixed at pre-designated points. The faulty equipment has been replaced,” he said.

B.D. D'Souza, Deputy Superintendent of Police, District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) said the district had received 3750 RFID tags which had been distributed among 25 police stations. The State Crime Records Bureau had supplied 250 card-readers and 25 chargers to the DCRB. Each police station was given 10 card readers and one charger, respectively. They were fully functional now, Mr. D' Souza said.

Former Superintendent of Police B. Dayananda who initiated the process of introducing the e-beat system said station house officers and senior police officials would henceforth get an accurate assessment of how police constables worked on their beats. It would be easier to fix accountability in case of any unsavoury incidents in a particular place and seek explanation from the constable concerned, he added.