Southern States
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Karnataka
Karnataka police adopting IT at brisk pace
By K.Satyamurty
BANGALORE DEC. 8. The Karnataka police are going ahead with the use of Information Technology in its working, beginning with total computerisation of crime records from 1991 onwards.
Constraints in hardware and software requirements and logistics were overcome and the pace of computerisation has been steady since the modest beginning made during 2000-01, the Inspector-General of Police (Crime Records), Mr. S.T.Ramesh, told The Hindu. While the use of IT in crime prevention and detection had top priority, phased computerisation of other activities of the police related to law and order, traffic, the Armed Reserve Force and Personnel Welfare was to be completed. ``There will be less drudgery on the job for police personnel. They can work faster and the public will benefit the most,'' he said.
The computerisation process of the police had involved an expenditure of Rs. 53.4 crore in 2000-01 and a similar amount is being spent this year too, Mr. Ramesh said. Networking of the entire Police Department from police stations to the Director General's office and covering all intermediary offices was the eventual goal. All 86 police stations in Bangalore had their own computers and peripherals now and this facility would soon be extended to the districts.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had extended help as part of the Police IT-2000 national policy for modernisation of law enforcement. The NCRB had developed a software called the Crime-Criminal InfoSystem and provided it to the States. In Karnataka, the software was to be used in all district headquarters, starting from pilot projects in Bangalore Central Zone and KGF.
Since regional applications differed, the State had to meet its own specific requirements and the related software requirement specification process had been completed in the past six months and now the vendors for software development were being identified, Mr. Ramesh said. While this could be a fairly long process, training of personnel at police stations in basics such as data entry was going on at a brisk pace. Special software would have to be developed for other applications such as traffic management.
For the networking process too, several options were examined while making better use of available communication facilities such as telephones and wireless. The departmental networking had to carry information in fastest possible time from police stations to district headquarters and onward to the State headquarters.
While computerisation did have some initial resistance from police personnel and there was some scepticism, there was a more positive reaction now as the benefits on the job were being realised. A handbook in the form of a simple user's manual had been prepared and provided to all police stations with computers. This contained dos and don'ts (like not using gaming software), the use of peripherals such as printers and the UPS, their daily maintenance and whom to contact immediately, if there were problems. Along with more training and familiarisation, the computerisation process would become successful.
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