Live scanners in 1600 AP police stations

About 1,600 police stations in Andhra Pradesh will soon be equipped with 'live' scanners and four-fingerprint scanners as part of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) project.

About 1,600 police stations in Andhra Pradesh will soon be equipped with 'live' scanners and four-fingerprint scanners as part of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) project. The project envisages integration of the Finger Print Bureau (FPB) in the state with police infrastructure for effective tracking of criminal records.

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CCTNS is an e-governance initiative of the Union Home Ministry and aims to create a comprehensive and integrated system for effective and efficient policing through a nationwide network with a bottom-to-top approach.

However, lack of trained and exclusive manpower seems to be hampering the plans of the Andhra Pradesh FPB which has sought separate manpower for the Bureau in order to get better results.

As part of the second phase of implementation of the CCTNS project, live scanners and four-fingerprint scanners will be provided to around 1,600 police stations in the state, AP Finger Prints Bureau Director T Rajendra Prasad told PTI.

"Fingerprint is one of the priority areas of the CCTNS project. It creates a platform for sharing crime and criminal information and fingerprint data across the country in real time," he said.

For the success of CCTNS, the fingerprint data along with textual and demographic data has to be supplied from the police station level to the Automated Finger Prints Identification System (AFIS) at district, state and national level.

"But, at present police personnel at the police station level are burdened with other tasks including maintaining law and order bandobast and similar other duties," Prasad said.

If a separate police force is deputed for the purpose, then the clarity and correctness of data input will improve which, in turn, will help in the identification and speedy detection of cases and also integration of data through fingerprints, Prasad explained.