STATE POLICEMEN TO GET SPECIAL TRAINING IN AI, ETHICAL HACKING

JAIPUR: In order to curb the rising cases of cyber crime and deal with fraudsters, the Rajasthan police will soon be giving special training to selected policemen ranging from the rank of constables to inspectors at every police range level.

The policemen will be taught courses like artificial intelligence gathering and ethical hacking.

“We will soon start giving training to selected policemen of different ranks in order to tighten noose on cybercrimes. In Jodhpur and Jaipur city police commissionerate, such programmes have already begun and would be started at all the range level,” said a senior police official, familiar with the development.

He said special teams of these trained policemen would be formed.

“The main purpose of this cyber training programme is not only to solve crime cases, but also to stop them in advance. Special apparatus and tools will be also purchased for that,” the police official said.

Another police official said the Rajasthan Police Academy (RCA) will soon hire a cyber forensic consultant for the cyber forensic lab-cum-training centre.

According to the police data, out of the 621 cybercrime cases registered in the state in 2020, 157 were reported from Jaipur city while in 2019, out of the total 1,074 cases, 430 were reported from the state capital.

Alwar, Udaipur, Ajmer and Tonk followed Jaipur district in the number of cybercrime cases.

Cyber expert Ayush Bhardwaj said cybercrimes are increasing in state rapidly.

“The reason for the spurt is mainly because mostly physical crimes, such as money fraud and bullying, are probed by the IT (information technology) cell of police,” he said.

“Starting new cyber crime units is a good initiative by state police,” he added.

“Due to Covid-19 effect, people mostly avoid physical transactions. This way, online shoppers became primary targets of cyber criminals,” Bhardwaj said. “Frauds such as QR code scanning, malware containing links, fake IVR, card cloning and cashback-based scams were reported. Crimes such as cyber bullying and targeted harassment were also seen,” he added.

He said that this type of teams will definitely help in putting a break on cyber crimes.