Himachal residents can SMS an FIR

This facility will start in three police stations in Shimla, Mandi and Una towns, say police officials.

Residents of Himachal Pradesh will be able to file first information reports (FIRs) by using the short messaging service (SMS) from April, police officials said on Saturday.

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This facility will start in three police stations in Shimla, Mandi and Una towns.

These police stations are being brought under the ISO certification for quality management systems and e-governance expansion programme of the central government.

Police personnel are currently being trained to handle the booking of FIRs through SMSs. If the experiment succeeds, the service will be offered in more police stations of the hill state, officials said.

The trained policemen will then train residents to use the SMS facility.

It is also possible to register FIRs through telephone calls and emails in Himachal Pradesh.

The email FIR facility was introduced last year in most police stations of the state but very few people are using it, officials said.