GPS and Police patrolling
From a management and safety viewpoint, Police managers have
long wanted to be able to locate any patrol unit on a map at any
point in time (where are the units right now?). Now police patrolling
personnel are able to use GPS sensors for that utilize from three to
seven satellites for precision; three receivers will sense position to
a hundred yards or so; seven receivers will be accurate to within a
few meters. These receivers also have a small computer chip built in
so that they can do the required timing and calculations internally
and report position in either longitude/latitude or UTM (Universal
Transverse Mercator) form with pre-determined regularity. That
can in turn be fed into either a PC, or into a radio modem for
transmission back to base. Typically, each unit would report position
every minute or so.
At the base station, usually the control room, these position
reports would be received and used to display the current location of
each unit on a large computerized map (usually on a BIG screen or
projection); it has to be large to display the entire area in enough
detail to be useful. If an accurate map is available, this is relatively
easy to do. GPS can be useful in the urban policing setting primarily
as an officer safety device. In the urban setting, the officer is most
often on his way to or at a call, and the control room knows where
that is; and in between, the patrol officer can periodically indicate
location, so GPS is not of substantive value for dispatching in urban
areas. It can be very helpful, however, if the officer is hurt, or
taken, since other cars can be quickly vectored on the location of
the subject patrol unit. However, GPS is most useful in the rural/
highway patrol situation where units spend most of their time seeing
and being seen rather than responding, and where assistance can be
far away. Similarly, given long distances involved in rural areas,
knowing exactly where all available patrol units physically are can
allow the dispatcher to send the unit that will arrive on the scene the
fastest, so GPS can be of real dispatching assistance in the rural or
highway patrol setting.
Some Words of Caution About GPS in Policing
In exploring the variety of GPS options available to law enforcement
agencies, it is important to consider the degree of precision offered
by each system. Many larger electronic stories sell a basic, handheld
GPS locator unit for a few thousand rupees. These units will simply
give the user readout of their location with a varying degree of
accuracy (most civilian units are accurate to less than one hundred
meters). More precise units, and systems which pinpoint location
on maps, will be more expensive in that they require “differential
correction equipment”. Such units, however, can identify a location
within one meter.
Interestingly, the reason for the lack of precision in
commercial GPS is not a matter of technology, but one of policy.
With the DOD stopping its intentional distortion, all GPS receivers
will be able to pinpoint positions on the earth within one centimeter.
Police Departments integrating GPS and computerized maps
need to be sure that the accuracy of the maps matches the precision
of their GPS units. Although the quality of both GPS and
computerized maps is improving, care must be exercised to ensure
that the maps will reflect the actual position of the GPS unit. Maps
must also be regularly updated to reflect significant changes within
a community.
GPS in Policing: The Indian Scenario
In India, Bangalore police, Hyderabad police, Mumbai police, Goa
police, Kerala police, Delhi police and Chennai Police are the front-runners
in using GIS and GPS for Crime prevention and control. But
the application of GPS in policing has not taken pace as done in
developed countries. In this context, there is a need to study the
current problems that hamper the development and availability of
GPS in Police Departments.
Hardware and software costs
The cost of hardware and GIS software starts at a few thousand
Rupees. Still, the cost of minimum configuration—a PC, monitor,
printer, and desktop mapping software, GPS can be prohibitive to
police departments that must continuously weigh the costs and
benefits of GPS against other crime prevention activities.
Expertise
GPS will be more complicated and harder to learn for police
personnel, so, special training courses are often required to use GPS
effectively. This requirement is also a serious obstacle for Indian
police departments. Indian police departments usually depend on
one or two persons who are familiar with GPS/mapping; when these
persons leave or, transferred to another area, the department also
loses its GPS/mapping capability. One approach to overcoming this
obstacle is to develop a separate crime-mapping department. In this
department a new breed of people for the Indian criminal justices
system called crime analysts should be recruited. This department
should be fully dedicated to work only on GIS/GPS applications.
Apart from this, various levels of police personnel should be trained
by crime mapping department.
Conclusion
The GPS application in Indian Policing is in its infancy. Large-volume commercial applications such as cellular phones, personal communication systems, and in-vehicle navigation systems will fuel continued development of these technologies. What was ultimately the domain of the Department of Defense is rapidly becoming available for business, private, and general government
use. Policing and public safety in general, will benefit from these
market forces. It is clear that there are number of GPS applications
for policing.
The challenge for the next decade will be to create hardware
that is small, rugged, and within the budget of the average police
department. Along with this goes the challenge of creating
inexpensive applications that are integrated, flexible, and which
can be supported by limited staff maintenance and training resources.
As with many other technologies, the GPS/GIS industry must meet
these requirements if it is to be successfully introduced into the
Police Departments.
At this juncture, it is essential for the development of a nodal
agency to implement and manage GIS/GPS in Indian police
departments. Hence, it is proposed that, a National Crime Mapping
Research Center (NCMRC) should be created under the Ministry of
Home Affairs in the Capital and all the states should have a State
Crime Mapping Research Center (SCMRC) and it should be connected
through a network with the NCMRC. Apart from this, GIS/GPS
technology should be added to the curriculum for the Police training
at the Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel National Police Academy, National
Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, Central Detective
Training Schools and State Police Training Colleges. It would enable
the police personnel to use the GIS/GPS in an efficient manner, to
play an effective role in crime prevention and investigation.
References