Traffic police dump the iconic BlackBerry phones

  The Bengaluru traffic police have dumped their famous BlackBerries and printers. They are now using the Smart Personalised Digital Assistant (S-PDA) for registering traffic violations, which is “100% evidence-based law enforcement”.

The device looks like a card swipe machine and can read credit/debit cards, making fine payments easy and cashless. It has a touch screen interface and an integrated printer which prints out challans with just a touch.

“The S-PDA is embedded with the Global Positioning System (GPS) which will record the time and the spot where the offence occurred,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said. “Offenders will not be able to prove that they or their vehicles were not at that location at that time.”

The S-PDA also has video and still cameras synchronised with the local time and the GPS for record of violations.

“The machines are also devised to read and display data from the new smart cards issued by the Transport Department, such as the new driving licences and vehicle registration cards which have a chip embedded in them,” Sood said.

The traffic police have been using BlackBerries and printers (carried separately) since 2008 to book violators and issue them challans.

“This technology has become obsolete. That’s why we are going for a replacement,” he said.
Around 650 S-PDA devices will be distributed among traffic police inspectors, sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors in the coming days.

Rs 10 cr earmarked

A total of Rs 10 crore will be spent over five years on procurement, maintenance, consumables and servicing of these devices.