Recently, some online fraudsters formed a fake Facebook page for Kerala Police and started making posts. But they could not go on for long as the Netizen Police, a Facebook community formed as an interactive platform for tech-savvy police officers and public members, spotted it and brought the information about the fake profile page to the authorities concerned.
This incident highlighted the level of vigil required in monitoring online activities and the urgent need for concerted efforts from different quarters. The Netizen Police could take up many issues of online frauds and malignant campaigns.
Taking a cue from the highly effective Netizen Police online community, which takes up very active discussions on cyber security and related issues, the Kerala Police decided to create a ‘High-tech Public Private Partnership Centre for Cyber Security and Innovations’. But this proposal is still awaiting State government approval.
“This is an innovative concept of community policing and will not cost anything extra for the force. This will bring in public support to crime fighting in a big way,” State Police Chief K.S. Balasubramanian told The Hindu.
The move for such a centre got a fillip with Finance minister K.M. Mani setting up a fund of Rs. 2 crore for it. It is learnt that the centre, whose role will be primarily focussed on monitoring the cyber activities, will come up at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram.
“As the first phase of establishing the Centre, a pool of police officers who are technically oriented will be formed. In the next stage, a civilian technical pool of honorary police officers will be formed. This advisory board will be able to assist the law enforcement agencies in cyber crime investigations,” said J. Jayanath, Superintendent of Police, Telecommunications.
