Be it snatching incidents — nearly 180 snatchings were reported in 2007 and 48 in a month — or theft of vehicles, PCR vehicles in the city could not nab a single miscreant.

More than 780 cars were stolen from the city last year. The city has 18 exit points and the PCR vehicles are stationed on almost all the exit-entry routes of the city.

As a step towards improving PCR functioning and efficiency, senior police officers of the Chandigarh Police have now floated the idea of installing Global Positioning System in all PCR vehicles. “The aim is to monitor the movement of PCR vehicles and reduce their response time. There are times when the nearest PCR vehicle available cannot be contacted. With the GPS system in place, we will be able to keep track of the location of all the PCR vehicles. It will also help the control room monitor all the PCR drivers simultaneously. Any laxity or unauthorised detours by the PCR vehicles will also be detected,” said a senior police officer.

The government has already approved this Automatic Vehicle Tracking system through the GPS. Tenders were floated and technical bids have been opened and examined by the technical committee.

According to the UT Police officers, Police Control Room will very soon be fully computerised and its entire fleet will be equipped with the GPS mobiles.