Hyderabad: Technology takes cops to new heights

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police has seen numerous technological additions in 2017 which have helped it solve some high-profile cases. 

The introduction of fingerprint scanners, hundreds of thousands of CCTVs across the city, advanced equipment and tech-laden stations have helped them arrest the crime rate in the city.

The policing in the city has moved to the digital platform with apps like ‘hawk eye’ and ‘lost report’. 

The next in the pipeline is the drone surveillance systems which may be operational in 2018, said a task force official. Telangana stands top in the country in using technology for policing, said Janaki Sharmila, DCP crime. “In the recent past, the city police has been widely using technological applications in routine policing, tracking criminals and crime detection. The latest of the lot is ‘papillion–afis’, used for the first time in Telangana. It is an automated fingerprint identification system to match the fingerprints of suspects with the database,” she said. About 30 police stations in the city, including three commissionerates, have the automatic fingerprint identification system. “This is helping the police in identifying criminals and their case history” said Ms Sharmila. 

There is also the Mobile Security Check Device (MSCD) which can be easily attached to any Android mobile phone.

“Technology is helping the police in creating its own database,” said Swathi Lakra, additional commissioner of police, crimes. “We even have an app exclusive only for the cops called ‘hyd cops’ which gives instant results on any query. Even if an official is not in Hyderabad, he or she will be knowing what is happening in cybercrime stations, SHE Teams and other places,” she explained. 

CCTVs have helped the police solve several crimes in the recent times.  From the daring daylight cigarette heist to Chandni Jain’s murder case. A kidnapped boy was safely returned to his family within 24 hours with the help of CCTVs.

Currently, CCTVs are installed in places, which can cover large areas. Earlier, they were present in certain specific hotspots. “We can assure a 99 per cent crime detection rate due to CCTVs,” said V. Satyanarayana, DCP, south. 

“It has been helping us in many ways. Previously, due to lack of CCTVs, we had to listen to people’s versions. Now, we have solid evidence which shows the events as they happened. There has been instances where many innocent people were wrongly accused by the people and it was only after we cross checked our camera feed, the truth was revealed,” added the official.  

DD, Avinash Mohanty, DCP cybercrimes, said, “The significant reduction in the crime rate is attributed to CCTVs. The Hyderabad police had invested in the video enhancement system to analyse footages without the help of forensic laboratories to avoid inordinate delay.”

“We have installed more than 60,000 cameras all over the city. These include cameras from Nenu Saitham, an initiative of the Telangana government, community cameras, police CCTVs and by private residents. All of them are linked to our portal for better policing” added Ms Lakra.

Satyanarayana further added that the police is using geo-tagging and  QR code technology. “They were used extensively during Ganesh processions at junctions where immersions take place,” he said.

“By 2018, we would be upgrading our existing technology. We will be using the drone surveillance as well. The only issue is that it should not be used by the public for privacy concerns. We would be focusing on hotspots,” said the additional commissioner.