IIT-K sets up criminal justice research centre to modernise policing
LUCKNOW/KANPUR : The Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) has set up the Centre for Criminal Justice Research on Monday, officials of the institute said.
The centre will develop analytic tools for the study of crime, they added. It will also develop technology and applications for UP police and other criminal justice agencies of the country.
“The centre will comprise faculty and graduate students of IIT-K, as well as police officers, criminal justice practitioners on deputation from the state and central governments,” said prof Sandeep Shukla, head of the computer science department at IIT-K. He heads the cyber security centre at the institute.
The centre would be the first of its kind in the country, according to a communique by Girish Pant of the IIT’s information cell.
Prof Shukla said the centre would serve citizens, particularly women and children, by providing training and support to the police in fulfilling its role of deterring crime through effective investigation, maintenance of public order and efficient management of resources.
The centre will advise police departments in planning and managing technology projects, he said.
It will also aim to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for major police functions and support the SMART policing vision of the prime minister through research into the frontiers of science and technological applications for improving service delivery to citizens, the professor said.
“An alumnus of IIT-K, Dr Arvind Verma, who is a visiting professor from Indiana University, Bloomington, will lead the team for the initial period of this centre. Dr Verma not only brings his vast knowledge and research experience in the field of criminal justice, but also his association with the Indian police where he served with distinction for 17 years in Bihar,” he said.
An academic unit of the centre will conduct and publish research on crime, police and public safety. It will partner other universities and institutes across India and abroad for research activities, he said.
Besides engaging in policy studies, the centre will research and develop methods for evaluation of specific criminal justice system policies and modernisation plans.
The centre will work across the disciplines of criminology, computing science, mathematics, geography, economics, psychology, management, philosophy and ethics, with special emphasis on gender, race and ethnic studies, he said.
“This will assist in the understanding and modeling of the complex social and political environment, and with these models better understand how to improve approaches to crime reduction and the use of informatics in criminological research,” he said.
An important function of the centre will be to improve the awareness and knowledge of scientific understanding of policing among the public, journalists, and policy makers. The centre will enhance public safety through criminological education and training in security matters.
The centre will offer certificate programmes for the Indian police, private sector security professionals and criminal justice agents in data analytics and visualization, including distance-learning programmes. Additionally, it will conduct workshops for police and security personnel on specific topics that enable them to use technology effectively for crime reduction, security enhancement and citizen assistance.