Live-feed link offered for emergencies

A new feature in the Public Safety mobile application turns every citizen's smartphone camera into an extension of the Punjab Safe Cities (PSCA) surveillance network during emergencies.

The 'Connect to PSCA' tool allows citizens facing serious incidents to share real-time video footage directly with the authority's control room by accepting a secure link sent by an operator on the Emergency Helpline 15.

Authorities urged all citizens to download and register on the app to avail the new feature.

According to officials, as soon as a citizen calls the helpline and describes a critical situation such as a street crime, accident, or any threat to public safety, the duty officer can instantly send a live-feed link via SMS. Opening the link immediately connects the phone's camera to the control room, giving operators a real-time view of the scene and enabling faster, more accurate dispatch of police or rescue teams.

"This service is exclusively for genuine emergency situations," a PSCA spokesperson emphasised, urging citizens to keep their phones' location services enabled and to refrain from sharing non-emergency or prank videos.

The feature is aimed at improving response effectiveness, especially in areas not covered by the PSCA cameras.

Meanwhile, the latest PSCA performance report reveals that Lahore police have outperformed other districts of the province in emergency response.

The provincial average response time for helpline calls is 18 minutes, whereas Lahore has improved its average to 10 minutes.

The report attributes the performance to the implementation of a conference-call system that connects the caller directly to the first responding officer.