Gujarat first Indian state to implement RFID for police
19 November, 2009
category: Government, RFID
Gujarat has become the first Indian state to issue RFID-enabled ID cards to its police officers for improved security, surveillance and management of the police force, according to indianexpress.com. The extent of the deployment is currently confined to the nearly 100 policemen in the rural Rajkot Range, but the government hopes to cover all 4,000 policemen and police vans under the project within a year.
The cards contain a photo ID and an RFID chip that transmits information about the officer to readers in 10 mobile vans roving the Rajkot district.
To lower the cost of the project, the range police are using a simple GPRS network of mobile phone companies to transfer the coded data from the card onto a central server.
Other regions of India have expressed interest in a similar deployment, including Tamil Nadu, which was the first state in the country to propose RFID cards for policemen last February, but the project has yet to take off. In addition, the Delhi Police force is currently acquiring RFID cards and readers to improve surveillance for the upcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games.
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