The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Bringing criminals under the web of vigil Law and order

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Tuesday, Oct 07, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Bringing criminals under the web of vigil Law and order

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System will cut paperwork in police stations, says Rajesh B. Nair

The territorial police are gearing up to implement the Union Home Ministry’s plan to automate the functioning of police stations.

The programme, called the Common Integrated Police Application when it was launched in 2005, has been renamed as the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System. Implemented across the country at a cost of Rs. 2,000 crore, the system will significantly reduce paperwork in police stations.

In the Union Territory, the site preparation in all 41 stations has been completed, and some stations have started registration of the First Information Report through the system, on a trial basis. All the stations have been provided with two sets of computers and other equipment for registration of cases. The National Informatics Centre has been entrusted with the job of training the policemen in computers and the system.

“We have completed most part of the works. The training programme for the policemen commenced a few months ago,” a senior police officer told The Hindu. The programme would significantly reduce the maintenance of manual records and registers in police stations, he said. It would also help to make the functioning of the police transparent.

The system, he said, was the first step towards integration of crime records for effective monitoring, and sharing of the database, of criminals across the country. The software could register cases and compile investigation procedures, details about prosecution, information on criminals and daily reports.

“All information generated in police stations can be transmitted to the portal of the National Crime Records Bureau and made available through a web-based citizen interface. In future, there is a plan to link the system with the Transport Department, the courts and the fingerprint bureau in all States,” the police officer said. It was an attempt at building infrastructure to provide the basis “for evolution of crime and criminal information system” based on the Criminal Procedure Code.

“One of the biggest advantages of the system is that senior officers can keep track of the progress of investigation of a particular case daily,” he said.

Senior police officers believe that the new system will help to eliminate duplication and inconsistency in maintaining of the details of criminals. All the information can be accessed at the click of a button. However, the effectiveness of the system can be gauged only after the entire procedure, from the FIR to the charge sheet, is integrated.

Along with the implementation of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System, the Police Department has launched its website (http://police.puducherry.gov.in). One of the most updated websites of any government departments in the Union Territory, it provides all information about the police. It shares the particulars of missing persons, unidentified bodies and stolen vehicles, crime statistics of the last three years, tips to prevent thefts and the contact numbers of officers and the police stations.

The law and order section in the website provided information about all the police stations, including their history, and the population, government officers and places of importance within their jurisdiction.

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