UNION HOME Minister of India Amit Shah on Friday said that data of central agencies such as the CBI, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) should also be integrated with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS), which currently connects all police stations in the country, Trend reports citing The Indian EXPRESS.
“As many as 16,390 police stations in the country have been connected on CCTNS, but Central agencies such as the CBI, the NCB and NIA are still not connected with it. All agencies must join the CCTNS as soon as possible and make data 100 per cent complete,” Shah said, addressing a gathering of police officers at the 37th Foundation Day of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
He said the target of the second phase of the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) has been set by the Centre with an expenditure of about Rs 3,500 crore by the year 2026.
“After its completion, it should be made increasingly useful by using Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain, analytical tools and fingerprint system. Till now, around 1 crore fingerprints have been registered and if these become available to all police stations, there is no need to pursue criminals, as after getting their fingerprints, their address can be found on the data base of the police station,” the MHA quoted him as saying.
Shah said that states must use NCRB data for crime control as that alone would fulfill the purpose of the data. He, however, lamented that the NCRB’s data shows crime only through the lens of the IPC. “The data should also be compiled through the social perspective instead of only looking at it through the lens of the IPC. If such data can be analysed in a different way, there will be huge benefits in crime control,” he said. “For example, whenever the Kharif season is around the corner, FIRs of quarrels/fights between farmers will be registered at police stations and sometimes, such cases even reach serious levels.”
Shah said the police should keep an eye on places where large educational institutions and new hostels are being built and monitor the type of activity that is taking place around them.
“A solution cannot be found by looking at them only from the perspective of the IPC, it should be analyzed separately and this is the responsibility of the NCRB and the BPR&D. After analyzing it separately, these two organisations should present a paper with a solution at the DGP conference and workshops should be organised after discussing with the states.”
“If crime data is not used to reduce crime, then we cannot take maximum advantage of keeping the data. As long as we do not promote the use of all these features, do not place them in the user forum, until then it cannot be fully beneficial,” Shah said.