1.3 lakh Suraksha downloads in Bengaluru since Disha incident

Bengaluru residents have downloaded Suraksha, the police safety app, over 1.3 lakh times since the rape and immolation of a veterinarian doctor in Hyderabad, according to an official here on Tuesday.

"Suraksha, the Bengaluru city police safety app, has been downloaded 1.3 lakh times in one week," Deputy Commissioner of Police (central crime branch) Kuldeep Jain told IANS.

The gender-neutral safety app got a shot in the arm after Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao appealed women on December 3 to use police assistance through Suraksha when in danger, promising response in seven seconds flat.

"Surakhsa is not restricted to women. It can be used by anybody. Everybody can have a problem," said Jain, highlighting that men are also downloading the app that has secured nearly 2.8 lakh downloads since its initial launch in 2017.

Jain played a short video demonstrating how to download the app, which teemed with heavy traffic and downloads following the Hyderabad Disha incident. He said Suraksha didn't receive much public patronage mid-way after launch, leading to a lull in downloads but it picked up in a big way last week.

The police have organised Suraksha awareness events at every police station and conditioned the police force that all sorts of calls and alerts will come. All police stations in the city is equipped with two patrolling vehicles, with the exclusive mission to attend to emergency calls.

"The Commissioner had also motivated the police control room that it will get so many calls just to test whether it's working or not. Number of calls to the police has increased 10-fold and most of the time it is a test call," said Jain.

Public testimonials were the testament to the effectiveness of police response and the app, he said.

Rao also urged people to check the efficacy of the app as a user had to be confident because "tomorrow when someone is in real danger they should be confident that Suraksha works.".

As DCP, Jain handles the five wings of cyber crime, anti-narcotics, women's protection, special enquiries and anti-terrorist cell. IANS