112 to be police emergency helpline

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police will soon switch over to a new emergency number – 112 – from the existing 100.
This is as part of Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) of the Centre that envisages launching an integrated emergency response system with a single emergency number 112, to address different emergencies of citizens. The single emergency number system is similar to the ‘911’ of the US and ‘999’ of the UK.This number will integrate all the emergency services like the police, ambulance, fire service, etc, through the call centres being set up in each state. Other numbers like 101 (fire service) and 108 (ambulance) will no longer be in use.
“All the states will have to switch over to the new system. We will decide on the final launch soon. As of now, we are running it on a trial basis,” state police chief Loknath Behera said.
The calls from those in distress will be routed from centralised call centres to respective control room police vehicles, which will be alerted to reach out to the caller. The control room is being set in such a way that it would be able to handle as many as 50 calls at a time.
The automated facility being setup for this purpose, called Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), will subsequently integrate police, fire and rescue, ambulance and women and child helplines, handle all such calls real-time on a digital map of the state and hence will direct the right service vehicle to reach the service requestor and provide necessary support immediately.
The idea was mooted by the Centre in 2016 itself, and the states were asked to work on the new system. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had given clearance to the new system.