Full-fledged cyber crime policestation to become a reality soon

DGP’s announcement gives a fillip to the understaffed cyber cell in city

May 04, 2017 09:35 am | Updated 09:36 am IST - VISAKHAPATNAM

The recent announcement of setting up of a full-fledged cyber crime police station along with a cyber forensic laboratory in the city on the fast track by DGP N. Sambasiva Rao has brought cheer to the cyber crime cell.

The cell has been operating with ‘less than minimum’ staff and with practically no infrastructure and the announcement is certainly a fillip to it.

The district administration has identified and allotted about 1000 sq yards of land close to the rythu bazaar in Marripalem area and according to the DGP, about ₹5 crore will be spent on the establishment of the police station.

Visakhapatnam has been heading the list of cases in the State for the last three years and the rise is steady.

In 2013, the total crime recorded was 148, in 2014 it was 195, in 2015 it was 247 and in 2016 it shot up to 400.

According to Inspector (cyber crime) K. Satyanarayana Rao, in this year the number of crime recorded till date has already crossed the 50 mark.

While most of the crime pertain to vishing (OTP fraud), the others include online job fraud, stalking, morphing and internet bank fraud.

“Because of lack of well-staffed police station with adequate infrastructure, the personnel have been facing an uphill task to track and crack the cases.”

Cyber crime is not a normal crime. Searching for cyber criminal is like trying to find a ‘needle in a haystack’, as the criminal can commit a crime using a smart phone sitting in any part of the globe, says DCP (crime) T. Ravi Kumar Murthy.

Manpower

Mere construction of a building will not suffice. We need trained manpower to handle the cases, as cyber crime is a specialised crime committed by criminals who are qualified and proficient in computers or use of smart devices.

“We need to think the way they think and for which a trained and dedicated force is needed,” says ADCP (crime) S. Varadaraju.

As of now the cyber crime cell/ police station has one inspector, two sub-inspectors, one head constable and four constables.

The recommended force is three inspectors, six sub-inspectors, about 10 head constables or assistant sub-inspectors and a minimum of 30 constables.

On an average the cell receives at least three complaints and some of them are very serious and majority of them are cross-border cases.

Apart from trained manpower, the cyber forensic laboratory will also play a crucial role in cracking cases.

As of now there is no infrastructure and the police station has to depend on the call data record, IP details and on the whims and fancies of the cellular or internet operators.

“If the lab is set up, then at least the preliminary investigation can be conducted at the lab and that will give us enough leads and time to delve further into the case,” says Mr. Satyanarayana.

As per a senior police officer, the laboratory should comprise basic equipment such as mobile forensic kit, memory card reading facility, deleted message or internet history reviving kit, disk analysis software, social media history reading kit, cell ID tracker and GPS forensic. “A good basic laboratory can come up by investing around ₹1 crore,” Mr. Satyanarayana says.

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