Abstract
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected the daily lives of the people across the globe, as strategies such as curfew and lockdowns are being adopted to contain the novel coronavirus spread. Monitoring personnel such as police and field officers in implementing lockdowns and curfews are at high risk of contamination, as they come in contact with various individuals in the process of creating awareness, limiting their movement, verification of their details at checkpoints etc. Verification and validation of travel permits of the individual at checkpoints by the police personnel is one of the challenging process, as the risk of contamination is very high. Therefore, there is a need to implement strict procedures and ensure social distancing practices at checkpoints. However, it is essential police personnel may need to come in close contact for verifying the details. Focusing on this issue, this study proposes a smartphone-based technology intervention, which ensures social distancing practices for verification of travel permits at police checkpoints in Saudi Arabia. Allowing Pass Police Check Point Management System (APPCPMS), a smartphone application is proposed in this study, which ensures customized, automated, and highly secured verification at police checkpoints. The proposed system ensures safe and secure travel permit verification at police checkpoints by ensuring the adoption of social distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and facilitation of safe and emergency travel during the curfew and lockdown restrictions in Saudi Arabia. Accordingly, this study explains the purpose and design of APPCPMS systems in detail.