T.N. Police Commission calls for free registration of crime cases -OxBig News Network

The Tamil Nadu Fifth Police Commission, in its report submitted to the government, recommended free registration of all crime cases for better control over criminals. It also said First Information Reports (FIRs) for all cases of vehicle thefts should be issued to the complainants to enable them to claim insurance for the property lost.

In its report, the commission said the crime wings do not register all property crimes and resort to diluting the gravity of crimes due to extreme work pressure. While calling for empowering crime wings in each police station with adequate number of investigation officers, manpower and vehicles, the commission asked the State government to encourage the culture of free registration of crimes without laying too much emphasis on rate of detection and recovery.

“If free registration is encouraged, there would be a sudden spurt in crime registration in the initial one or two years and would stabilise thereafter. The government may take into confidence the entire political spectrum, the people and the media informing that free registration of crimes is necessary for better control over criminals and to solve crimes,” the report said.

Vehicle theft cases

The commission recommended that all motor vehicle thefts should be registered and FIRs given to the victims as the latter should not be denied the opportunity to claim the value of the property lost, through insurance cover. “Police leadership should be very strict in this regard and such cases may be closed as undetectable after a few months, if there is no clue forthcoming. An appropriate certificate should be given to the complainants to claim insurance.”

The Police Department should create awareness among the people to insure their properties, especially jewels, and to keep such valuables in lockers. Victims have got every chance to get their insured money back and the police too would not be under undue pressure to locate the cases in the absence of clues. Sufficient campaigns should be conducted through meetings, circulating handbills/brochures/pamphlets and through the media.

The commission said the Police Department should come down heavily on those who wantonly fail to file FIRs in cognizable crimes and make the victims run from pillar to post just to get their complaints registered.

Drones in policing

On the modernisation front, the commission said drones are essential to enhance efficiency of the police in the new age of technology. Setting up of drone centres in every City/District for effective management of Law and Order, crowds, traffic, disasters, crime scene examination, prevention of crimes in high-crime commercial areas, handling of hazardous materials etc was suggested.

Robots for surveillance

Robots may be used for surveillance, bomb disposals, search and rescue, and crowd management in a transparent and responsible manner and in dangerous and hazardous situations.

Among other recommendations were implementation of Cloud Computing solutions for data storage, sharing and management of large volumes of data right from the police station level, as it was a cost-effective technology, establishing Blockchain technology as it offered a highly secure means of storing and managing sensitive crime data protecting it from tampering and unauthorised access etc.