Maharashtra launches crime tracking system

Mumbai: On the occasion of the 70th Independence Day, Maharashtra launched the country's first comprehensive 'Crime Criminal Tracking Network System' through 42 cyber labs inaugurated simultaneously here on Monday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, while launching the CCTNS, announced that the whole of Mumbai would be under closed-circuit television monitoring by October, while similar projects are underway in other major cities like Pune and Nagpur.

Under the CCTNS, the state government will raise a special cyber police force of around 1,000 policemen well trained to handle the growing incidents of cyber crimes, he added.

"Advanced technology will be deployed for the safety and security of all the citizens and their properties through the cyber police force," Fadnavis said at the inauguration ceremony of the cyber lab at the World Trade Centre.

He pointed out that through the growing use of Internet, criminals are using advanced techniques to commit newer types of online crimes and the cyber labs would attempt to track and curb them.

Under the CCTNS, all police stations in the state will be linked with one another for sharing information about crimes in their respective jurisdictions and pave the way for a "digital police force" in Maharashtra.

The services of the cyber labs, linked by secure high-speed fibre optic cable network, will be available to address security concerns of private organisations and banks among others, Fadnavis added.

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Pune, was instrumental in completing the work on setting up the 42 cyber labs across the state in just three weeks, said Inspector General of Police Brijesh Singh, IT expert and Cyber and Crimes against Women Cell in the Mantralaya.

Director General of Police Satish Mathur said as the country gets linked through information technology, hackers attempt to break it. He said law and order situations are created on social media networking sites which would henceforth be tackled effectively through the cyber labs.

Present on the occasion were Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K.P. Bakshi, Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar, Mayor Snehal Ambekar and other top police and civilian officials.