CM to inaugurate Virtual Police Station at AU

Officials are hoping to replicate the model across other institutions

A view of the building in AU where the virtual police station is being set up, in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

The setting up of ‘Virtual Police Stations’ in educational institutions is set to become a reality soon, with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy scheduled to inaugurate the first such facility in the State at Andhra University on Friday.

The AU facility is being looked at as a pilot project, and this will later be replicated at other educational institutions, officials said. The Chief Minister will inaugurate the facility during his visit to AU as part of the university’s alumni meet.

During the launch of Cyber Mitra and Mahila Mitra in Visakhapatnam city on August 8, the AU Vice-Chancellor had suggested the setting up of a virtual police station on the AU campus to Director-General of Police Gautam Sawang. The V-C said that such a facility would make it easy for students to report their grievances. Responding positively to the suggestion, the DGP gave his nod to set up the virtual police station stating that such initiatives would help bridge the gap between students and the police department, further resolving their issues.

Commissioner of Police R.K Meena said that varsity officials provided the space, infrastructure, technical support and a dedicated block to the virtual police station.

“We have been seeing many youth falling prey to cyber fraudsters and a few other crimes. This is another friendly policing initiative which brings students closer to the police. They can send their complaints through an email,” said Mr. Meena.

Prof. Prasada Reddy said that the facility will initially be open only to the students.

Pilot project

If everything goes well at AU as planned, the model will be implemented across various institutions.

A senior police officer said that students can use the facility to file their complaints which will be forwarded to police officials concerned after scrutiny by the control room. The system also has an inbuilt complaint monitoring and action-taken mechanism for accountability and transparency, he said. “This has been initiated, as many students, especially girls are falling prey to different forms of crimes, and are not approaching the police due to social stigma. Now, they can utilise the privacy of the VPS and file a complaint,” said Mr. Meena.