Thane police launches app for women

Thane rural police has launched a mobile app which will help women victims to sent direct SOS message to the police.

The app, launched on November 5, is called FIR and is available on Google play store and soon will be launched on Apple play store also.

The 4.33 MB app has been much appreciated in the review column in the Google play store. Till Tuesday evening there had been as many as 10,000 downloads.

The aim of the app is to provide immediate help to females and senior citizens. When some one opens the app, they can see a red icon on screen.

When the tap the icon the message reaches the police control room of Mira—Bhayander. Police officers will respond by calling the number and if no one picks the phone the immediately inform their beat marshals to reach the location.

This is possible as the message gives the police information about the victim’s location through the GPS system. Using this app, one can save their own number and a alternate number to contact in emergency where police will call.

The app was designed by Empire Etech Solutions Pvt Ltd’s Harsh Sharma. The team worked on the app for months before it was inaugurated by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday.

Commenting on the app, SP of Thane Rural Rajesh Pradhan said, “The free app called ‘FIR’ (First Immediate Response) has been activated for police stations in the Mira-Bhayander region.

“This is an alternate response for women and senior citizens. We are ensuring that 100 per cent assistance will be provided to the person who taps the help button.”

According to the sources from Mira-Bhayander police control room, they have received as much as 300 alerts through help until now. A few of them were pranksters who later apologised to police when they immediately called them back.