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Chandigarh to get robust cyber directorate: DGP
The Chandigarh Police are working on setting up a cyber directorate, which will be equipped with all infrastructure to investigate cyber crimes under one roof and catch the elusive online fraudsters
The Chandigarh Police are working on setting up a cyber directorate, which will be equipped with all infrastructure to investigate cyber crimes under one roof and catch the elusive online fraudsters.
UT director general of police (DGP) Praveer Ranjan shared this while speaking at an event at the Chandigarh Press Club in Sector 27 on Sunday.
Responding to questions about the swiftly rising cyber-crime graph in the city, Ranjan said, “Talks are currently on at an advanced level to set up a cyber directorate in the city. It will not only cater to Chandigarh, but the entire region.” However, he didn’t mention a timeline for the project.
“Even traditional organised crime has now moved into cyberspace. What may seem as a simple extortion racket, may involve a whole gang. The sale and purchase of narcotics has also moved online through the dark web,” he added.
The top cop explained that it was hard to catch perpetrators of cyber crimes, as they could be located anywhere in the world, which delayed lodging of FIRs and subsequent investigation.
“But police are working on a cyber literacy survey with some city colleges and organising a cyber swachhta mission with 300 volunteers from colleges like Punjab Engineering College and DAV College, Sector 10, to improve awareness against such crimes,” he added.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s Crime in India 2020 report, 30 cyber crime cases were reported in Chandigarh in 2018, which dropped to 23 in 2019 and further to 17 in 2020. The charge-sheeting rate for such cases in the city is 30%, while pendency stands at 87.2%, the report said.
More transparency in policing
The DGP also spoke about how the police were employing technology to make their working more transparent.
“We will soon start monitoring complaints through an integrated complaint monitoring system (ICMS), using which complaints can be registered and tracked online. For complaints like theft, FIRs can be registered without even visiting the police station,” said Ranjan.
He shared that 2,000 new CCTV cameras were being installed across the city. These will not only help issue automatic challans, but allow utilisation of traffic police personnel for traffic regulation rather than fining violators.
The DGP also addressed the rising traffic congestion near Sukhna Lake, and said the department was looking into solutions like one-way traffic system. He spoke about the need for a multi-level or basement parking due to the rise in footfall at Sukhna Lake, among the most prominent tourist spots in Chandigarh.
Inspector general (Prisons) Omvir Singh Bishnoi, who was also present at the event, addressed the issue of gangsters carrying out extortion from behind the bars.
On a suggestion to use mobile phone jammers around the Model Jail in Sector 51, he said, “Jammers will lead to connection problems for people living in the jail’s vicinity. During my tenure in Puducherry, we had helped the Cellular Operators Association of India develop a technology to control cellular communication on jail premises and are working on using the same technology in Chandigarh.”
