Petitions, FIRs now just a click away from senior cops

The laissez-faire attitude, or the policy of letting things take their own course, of Telangana police's station house officers will soon be a thing of the past. All thanks to a new technological revolution. Every single petition and FIR that is registered, be it in a big city or in a remote village of Telangana, will now be just a click away from senior officials, from district SPs to the state police DGP.

From this week, all petitions and FIRs can be tracked by senior officials, in real time, with the help of Enterprise e-Cops software. All petitioners are entitled to get an acknowledgement and update on the petition as an SMS on their mobile phones and to receive copies of the FIR in their emails (if they mention the ID in the complaint) within 24 hours. The petitioners will also be given unique ID numbers to access updates of their case on the Telangana State police website.

Earlier, the scope for malpractices by the station house officer or high-ranking cops were high. Many officials would accept the petition and often “settle the cases” for money. There were instances where even after FIRs, cases were fully ignored because the Investigation Official (IO) was bribed. But now every single petition and FIR can be monitored by top cops.

Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma said: “Earlier we had periodical crime review meetings where we physically flipped through case diaries. Now, we can know about a case with this software.”

Enterprise e-Cops software, which was developed as part of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS), can be accessed by senior officials and SHOs.

Since cops can even find out how many cases are pending in each police station and what the reasons are. Ravi Gupta, Additional DG, Technical Services, said: “This system has brought a lot of transparency into the police. It will be extremely difficult for an investigation official to indulge in any mischief as senior officials can even find out if ‘stock witnesses’ (a witness who gives tailored testimony for cops) are used by officials.” THE ENTERPRISE eCops software can be accessed at arounf 1,000 locations (all police stations, and offices of senior cops)

THE STATE'S crime database will be integrated with the national database, which will allow tracking of criminals from other parts of the country.

IF A petitioner gets an acknowledgement for his complaint, it means the complaint has been entered into the database. If an FIR is not registered, the IO has to explain the reason to higher officials. IF ACTION is not takes on an FIR, people can approach higher officials, who can check the status of their cases

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SMSes sent by Telangana State police to petitioners is 2,500

THE NUMBER of FIRs emailed by TS police is 1,400