Kerala - Kochi   

Surveillance a tough task for police

KOCHI: Despite high alert being sounded following the series of bomb blasts across the country, the police are finding it hard to enhance the intelligence collection.

The cyber cell of the City Police is armed with all equipment and data software required for surveillance and tracking of suspicious communications through Internet or telephone.

But the personnel are rendered powerless because of a string of official clearances made mandatory before following a suspect. “Attempts to detonate bombs in Mumbai were aborted through sniffing. Monitoring the email and telephone communications is a vital part of pre-empting sabotage attempts,” said Manoj Abraham, City Police Commissioner. Sniffer software is used to intercept or log traffic passing over a digital network. The software can be used to decode and analyse packets. Even with advanced surveillance mechanism, the police are finding it hard to fight the sabotage attempts.

As a senior police official pointed out, recent operations show that the terrorist groups are reducing the use of communication systems, be it mobile phones or email, before striking. This makes it hard to track their activities.

On the other hand, the police are still resorting to conventional shadow policing to verify the physical presence of suspect.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

A cyber space for Malayalis
Volvo race web site compatible with GPRS
IT contest
Surveillance a tough task for police
Action council constituted
Bouquets for a noble deed
The battle of life left them in penury
Cardiology meet in city
School health programme in district to begin tomorrow
Task force soon for food processing industry
Liquor bottles seized from autorickshaw
Official exempted from personal appearance
Kochi today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu