Police communication services in the country are set for a major revamp with Union Home Minister Amit Shah expected to launch an upgraded POLNET 2.0, armed with a robust multi-media facility, next week here, officials said on Saturday. The Directorate of Coordination Police Wireless (DCPW) that operates the POLNET or the police network services in the country has created a new and enhanced communication platform for police and security forces to better communicate during law and order problems and disasters including linkup from remote border and coastal areas. The DCPW was set up in 1946 and it was placed under the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1950 with the primary mandate of coordination between state and central police and security agencies for radio communication and frequency allocation. It has been operating the POLNET since 2006. The new platform is named POLNET 2.0 and for the first time it will provide video-conferencing facility to four entities sitting at different locations in the country with Internet-enabled multimedia services, the officials said. The home minister is expected to launch the new platform during a national conference of ‘heads of public protection and disaster relief organisations’ on January 20 to be held at Vigyan Bhawan here. POLNET 2.0 will also have a phone calling facility for personnel of police and paramilitary forces deployed in remote areas to talk to their families. POLNET 2.0 will not only bring on one platform all disaster response and security forces like the NDRF, state and central forces, fire units and hospitals during disasters, it will also enable them to share photos, videos and other logistical data on a real-time basis, they said. The new platform will work on the robust C-band satellite network as compared to the POLNET that works in the Ku-band, a senior official said. “POLNET 2.0 will also connect about 260 remote police stations with the CCTNS (crime and criminal tracking network and systems) that aims to strengthen regular policing and crime investigation,” DCPW Director Anand Swaroop said. Swaroop, an 1992-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, said a successful ‘proof of concept’ for linking these remote police stations with CCTNS has been done in Lakhmipur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. After the launch of the POLNET 2.0, the home minister is expected to use it for interaction with the police chiefs of coastal and border states which have numerous remote and inaccessible locations. Shah will also launch the ‘national communication standards’ for police forces during the event that aims to bring seamless exchange of information and better interoperability between these forces. Technical sessions for promoting ‘Make in India’ hardware in police communication will also be held during the two-day conference.
