In a bid to make women feel safer during night time, the Andhra Pradesh State Police has launched a special ‘drop-home’ service at Ongole on Wednesday. The service will be available from 9.00 pm to 5 am. Women can dial 100 and request a drop following which, a patrol van will arrive at the pick-up point, escorted by a woman police officer, within 20 minutes. The pickup and drop routes will be monitored online from the police control room, said the Superintendent of Police, Siddarth Kaushal, speaking to the media. All calls will be routed to the DSP’s office who will then alert the closest police station for pick up.
The drop service is currently being launched in Chirala, Ongole, Markapur and Kandukur towns. It will be extended to other areas in a phased manner. In addition to the vans, the police force will be equipped with body-worn cameras to make women feel secure.
Reportedly, a total of eight vehicles and seventy motorbikes would be deployed across the mentioned locations in Andhra Pradesh. Ongole Sub-Divisional DSP, KVVNS Prasad, SB-II Circle Inspector, KV Raghavendra, SB Circle Inspector (CI), N Srikanth Babu, and other staff were in attendance at the launch of the drop-home service.
Post the gruesome rape and murder incident of Hyderabad, many state police forces across India have launched similar initiatives in their jurisdictions. The Nagpur police and Punjab police have started picking up and drop services to make women feel safer at night if they are left stranded.
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