Punjab SSF charts roadmap for India’s first 3D policing model, integrating drones, satellite data and AI
Punjab E News (PEN News): Not only is the Punjab Police ensuring the safety of residents from criminals, but it is also setting new standards with its flagship project of Sadak Surakhya Force (SSF), a dedicated highway patrol for saving the lives of commuters and making Punjab Police the first 3D Police Force in India by integrating drones, satellite imagery, and AI-powered predictive systems.
The impact of the dedicated highway patrol is already visible on the roads it mans. From February 2024 to January 2026, the SSF attended 43,983 road accidents, helping a total of 47,386 people. During these interventions, 19,973 persons were provided first aid at the spot, while 27,413 injured persons were shifted to hospitals, contributing towards saving lives through prompt emergency response and medical assistance.
The Punjab SSF, introduced as a dedicated force for highway safety, focuses exclusively on patrolling designated stretches of highways and major roads. Unlike conventional policing, SSF personnel are not diverted for routine law-and-order duties, with their primary focus being road safety, rapid response and assistance to accident victims.
The force is equipped with 144 high-tech vehicles and more than 1,600 specially trained personnel, including nearly 28 percent women recruits. The teams are strategically deployed every 30 km along 4,100 km of critical national and state highways and major district roads. SSF teams respond to accidents within an average of 6 to 10 minutes, significantly faster than global benchmarks.
Built around the “platinum 10 minutes” principle, SSF personnel aim to reach accident victims within six to eight minutes to provide immediate medical assistance before the ambulance or hospital takes over. The vehicles are equipped with speed guns, alcometers (breathalyzers), e-challan machines, dash cams and first-aid kits.
On this, Punjab DGP (Director General of Police)Gaurav Yadav stated, “Personnel received specialised training, including crash investigation and emergency medical response. For the last two years, reports consistently show a massive 45-48 percent drop in road accident fatalities on the specific highway stretches they patrol. On such SSF-manned roads, fatalities reportedly dropped from 1,955 in 2023 to 1,016 in 2024. That’s approximately 940 lives saved on those specific corridors in about a year.”
The SSF was officially launched by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on January 27, 2024, in Jalandhar. The force was created to tackle Punjab’s high rate of road accident fatalities, which was averaging 17-18 deaths per day.
Beyond road safety, SSF teams have also supported wider enforcement and public assistance efforts, recovering contraband such as 6 kg of opium and stolen vehicles, while also facilitating the return of cash and gold to their rightful owners. The teams have also helped prevent more than 12 suicides and assisted schoolchildren, late-night women travellers and tourists.
Phase II to expand SSF coverage
Meanwhile, the ongoing Phase II expansion will extend SSF coverage from the existing 5,500 km to 6,000 km of state roads. The longer-term Vision SSF-2047 seeks to build an integrated road safety ecosystem combining satellite data, artificial intelligence, drones and geospatial technologies.
The proposed 3D policing model will combine drones, satellite imagery and AI-powered predictive systems to create real-time situational awareness, anticipate risks and support faster police response to make overall traffic and road safety police more versatile.
“With an aim of digital enforcement integrating Artificial Intelligence and satellite data, the ‘Vision SSF-2047’ includes achieving minimal road accidents, fully green mobility corridors, and establishing regional research hubs under the Punjab Road Safety and Traffic Research Centre (PRSTRC),” said the DGP.
“The sole target of this project is making Punjab India’s road safety hub using science, systems, and synergy. Punjab Police will use satellite communication and geospatial data for incident mapping, congestion prediction, and disaster management. The SSF is already India’s first dedicated force for highway safety,” said the DGP.
He further added, “Under the leadership of the Punjab Government, the state created India’s first fully specialised force for highway safety and changed the way road safety is delivered. We rely on rapid response, professional training, and service-first mandate. We are further exploring the possibilities to integrate it with geo synchronous nanno or micro satellite of our own.”
The SSF project works under various arms, including the Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS), which serves as the technological backbone by integrating AI, IoT sensors and real-time analytics for automated enforcement, smart surveillance and data-driven traffic planning.
With Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)-based enforcement, predictive analytics and mobile interceptors, the police have already achieved an average accident response time of under seven minutes. Under the ‘Road Safety Punjab’ vision, traffic management is being transformed using the 7E Framework: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, Electronics, Emergency Care, Engagement and Evaluation. This strategy marks a shift from intuition-based management to an evidence-based, technology-driven approach.
On the other hand, the PRSTRC leads research, consultancy and training. It is supported by Research Advisory Groups (RAGs) from academia, industry and civil society. Active collaborations with leading educational institutions such as IITs, NITs, Plaksha University, GNDEC Ludhiana and GNDU Amritsar make the PRSTRC centres an umbrella organisation for regional centres of excellence, fostering innovation through shared data, joint projects and internships.
Compared with other states, the data reveals significant variations in how states approach highway safety, technology adoption and public accountability mechanisms. The SSF is structurally different from models in other states, such as the Maharashtra Highway Police, which is a highly modernised and effective wing of the existing state police, rather than a separate force.
“The success isn’t just from new vehicles, it’s a shift in philosophy from enforcement to service,” said the DGP.
Meanwhile, SDGP (Traffic & Road Safety Punjab) Amardeep Singh Rai said, “Regular police are trained for law and order, which is a very different and broad skillset. The SSF, on the other hand, received highly specialised training with a clear, non-negotiable priority: saving lives. The SSF personnel were put through specific training modules on emergency response and first aid, including training from the Red Cross, and are trained in ‘crash investigation’. The entire force is built around one concept: the platinum 10 minutes, which mandates reaching an accident victim within six to eight minutes to provide immediate medical relief before the ambulance or hospital takes over.”
“In addition, they are not pulled for VIP duty or diverted for local law-and-order issues. Their sole key performance indicator (KPI) is road safety and victim assistance,” he added.
