Will dedicated police stations help fight fast-growing crimes, like cyber fraud, in Benglauru? The police believes it will and have written to the government seeking sanction to set up dedicated police stations to fight Cyber crime, Economic offences and Narcotics (CEN) in each of the eight police divisions in the city.
These stations will function along the lines of women police stations and will handle specific cases related to internet fraud, narcotics and economic offences. Such cases, when registered in their respective divisions, will be transferred to these stations where dedicated units will probe them.
T. Suneel Kumar, Police Commissioner, said, “Each of the eight divisions in the city is headed by a SP-rank officer and is equivalent to a district. We have asked for eight dedicated police stations in the city. It is the need of the hour.”
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At present, the entire city has only one cyber crime police station, which is overburdened and understaffed. In 2018, the station saw over 5,200 cyber crimes registered, an almost 160% rise from just over 2,000 in 2017.
However, manned by only 12 policemen, the station could solve less than 10% of the cases registered, clearly indicating the challenge the city police face.
“Additionally, the proliferation of narcotics and economic offences have been big challenges to which the present system does not allow an adequate response” said a senior police official.
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Investigations into cyber crime, economic offences and narcotics are mostly long drawn and require specialised training and specific skill sets.
“For instance, the magnitude of the alleged Ambidant scam in which investors were cheated of over ₹300 crore was revealed only after it was transferred to the Central Crime Branch. For over 10 months, the case was with the D.J. Halli police, who had neither the resources nor the expertise to probe it,” a senior police officer explained.
Most narcotic investigations focus only on peddlers who are the middlemen between producers and consumers. But this approach does not root out the drug menace. “We need dedicated resources to identify producers, suppliers and consumers, trace the entire chain and act on every node to hit the trade effectively,” he added.
While the CCB does have a Women and Narcotics Wing, the rise in such crimes is proving to be a challenge. In 2017 and 2018, over a thousand narcotic and drug peddling cases were registered. A dedicated force will see the number of cases increase exponentially, just as in the case of cyber crime.
Training and personnel
For CEN stations to function effectively, the police will need personnel with specialised skill sets and more resources.
“Personnel who will be posted to these stations will be trained at the Centre for Cybercrime Investigation Training and Research in the CID,” said T. Suneel Kumar, Police Commissioner, adding, “The Centre was sponsored by Infosys.”
Retired police officer Gopal B. Hosur said CEN stations are the need of the hour, but warned that their purpose would be defeated if they are not provided with both qualitative and quantitative human resources.