Technology to keep cops on their toes

Additional commissioner of police (central region) Vineet Agarwal has come up with the perfect way to make officers who go slow on a case face the music. Ratting them out will be a software to help senior officers keep a tab on the progress made in each case filed at police stations.

The move comes on the heels of allegations that many cases fall through in court due to poor and delayed investigation by the police.

The central region police have been allotted some space on the official website of the Mumbai police to maintain records of investigation into each case. “Earlier, we had to go through all the files to find out the loopholes in a case. But now, we can keep an eye on every case using this software. Every day, officers update progress on their case on a section of the website which only cops have access to,” said Agarwal.

Investigating officers who fail to update case files for more than a week will then be questioned about it by seniors. “This way, we will be able to locate why there is a delay in the case. If we come to know that the investigation officer is overburdened, then other officers will be asked to help him out. But, if he alone is responsible for the delay without any reason, then action will be taken against him,” warned Agarwal.

The software will furnish a list of cases which are not updated and the investigation officer concerned every 10 days.

The central region police began using the software on March 31. Other regions are expected to pick it up, subject to the success of the programme.