Non-sharing of data hampers Kozhikode police

KOZHIKODE: The lack of a centralized data bank for the police force on thefts and property lost has resulted in several stolen properties gathering dust at various police stations across the district.

According to official sources, more than 90 stolen two-wheelers caught by the police are rusting in various police stations in the city as police stations do not share details of the recovered property with other stations.

By the time the police act on these cases, the vehicles are in an unusable condition. City commissioner of police P A Valsan told Deccan Chronicle that the entire police stations in the state were functioning this way and without a centralized data bank this issue would not be solved.

“The police stations should get information and details of thefts and property lost with a single click of the mouse. If such a centralized data bank is created, each police station can crosscheck the pending cases across the state and act accordingly. Unfortunately we do not have a system like that at present,” Commissioner said.

A case study of a bike theft case in Kozhikode exposes this lacuna in the system. An Enfield bullet was stolen from R P Mall on February 3, 2014.

The thief used this bike, after altering its number plate for about two months, in Kozhikode city itself and left it at an exclusive Enfield workshop at Kunnamangalam when it developed a technical problem.

The workshop person contacted Kunnamangalam police when the owner failed to turn up even after two months and police asked him to take the vehicle to the station.

When Kunnamangalam police checked the details of the number plate used on the bike, they found out that the number belonged to a Premier Padmini car used by a woman in Palakkad and knew it was a stolen bike.

They then gave the engine number to the cyber cell and located the address of the original owner. However, police did not make any effort to contact the owner or to check from where the bike was stolen.

A case in this regard had been registered at Nadakkavu police station and if there was communication between the stations, they could have cracked the case then and there and returned the bike to the owner. This bike is now rusting at Kunnamangalam police station for the last six months.

Kunnamangalam police contacted the owner of the bike only when Thrissur shadow police team arrested the vehicle thief at Thrissur on July 17.

During interrogation, he said that he had lifted the bike at R P Mall and they contacted the Kunnamangalam police and pestered them to give the details.