Stockholm - A group of women in Stockholm who live under constant threat will soon be able to walk safer with high-tech mobile phones which, with the press of a single button, send the police their exact location, police said on Friday.
The telephones, which use global positioning system (GPS) satellite technology, will be given to about one hundred women whose lives police believe to be in constant danger.
"These are for women who, for example, risk serious abuse from violent ex-husbands who have ignored restraining orders issued against them," said Stockholm police inspector Leif Lingbert.
"We've tested these phones thoroughly and we've been able to locate all of our test people within five to 10 metres of their exact location," he said.
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'These are for women who risk serious abuse from violent ex-husbands' Similar phones are already in use in Germany and Norway, Lingbert said.
The phones have two buttons. The first is a large red button which is directly connected to a police alarm centre, while a second, smaller button can be programmed to automatically call a person of the woman's choice, such as her social worker.
Police can also locate a woman even without her pressing the red button.
While the phones will only be distributed to women living in Stockholm, the women can be located anywhere in Sweden.
Stockholm police said they hoped their colleagues in the rest of the country would equip themselves with the same technology.
Many Swedish women who live under threat already have phones installed in their homes which, at the press of a button, automatically call an alarm centre which can hear everything going on in the home through a loudspeaker.
Some women also have devices which automatically record all of their conversations. - Sapa-AFP
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