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Showing posts from June, 2020

AI Joins the Force: Maharashtra Police Deploys ‘Crime-OS’ for Smarter Investigations

By Dheeraj Fartode  Imagine a police officer uploads an FIR and within seconds, an AI assistant begins planning the investigation. It write official letters, scan bank data and spot suspicious transactions. It sounds like science fiction - but it’s now reality in Maharashtra. The state police have started using Crime-OS, a powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool developed under the MARVEL project (Maharashtra Research and Vigilance for Enhanced Law Enforcement). This tool, built in partnership with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur, works like the co-pilot feature in Microsoft Office - but to solve crimes. It helps police save valuable time and reduces the heavy workload of investigations. Assistant Superitendent of Police (ASP) Deepak Agrawal explained that police investigations usually take a lot of time and effort. Crime-OS is designed to ease that burden. “For example, if a fraud case FIR is uploaded, the tool automatically picks out important information. It t...

DCP Nirmala Devi: Turning turmoil into triumph

By Dheeraj Fartode TWISTS, turmoil and triumph make a life. This life presents opportunities as well as disappointments in equal measure. While some grab their chances to achieve success, others just keep cursing the darkness. A thread of inspiration is enough for the doers to leave the disappointments behind and embrace a bright future. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone IV Nirmala Devi is one example of turning turmoil into triumph by working on the inspiration from her mother Laxmi, who had left studies in Standard VII. Born in Alandurai village near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on September 22, 1982, Nirmala Devi never thought of becoming Indian Police Service (IPS) officer till completion of her graduation in B.Sc. (Computer Technology). It was her mother who guided her to clinch the top post in police department. DCP Nirmala Devi Nirmala Devi’s father Sundharam passed away when she was just one-and-a-half-year old. Her mother ably shouldered the family’s responsibil...

COVID-19: 482 ‘isolation coaches’ of Central Railways lying idle

A TOTAL of 482 coaches of Central Railways are lying idle after being converted into modified isolation wards for COVID-19 patients. The coaches are unused as the State Government has not yet requested for deployment of the coaches, stated a top-rank railway official. According to information, Central Railways has modified 482 coaches for COVID-19 patients as per the directives of Ministry of Railways. Of them, 60 quarantine coaches with capacity of 16 persons in each were prepared by Central Railways Nagpur Division while 120 were prepared by Central Railways Carriage workshop, Matunga, Mumbai.  Responding to Right to Information (RTI) query filed by Ajay Bose, Central Railways stated that Rs 77,678/- were spent for modification of each coach. The coaches have facilities of two bottle holders, two coat hooks, oxygen cylinder bracket, three sets of foot-operated dustbins, bathing arrangement, health faucet, bathing seat, mug, bucket. Each coach having separate block for nur...

City Police to form CIU squads for continuous monitoring of criminals

WITH an aim to get actionable inputs about active criminals, Nagpur Police has decided to form Criminal Intelligence Units (CIU) at all police stations that will continuously follow the criminals to pin them down before committing crime. The idea of new unit is the brainchild of Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr. Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay. The CP has issued directives to senior rank officials for identifying police personnel with skills of gathering Intelligence inputs.  Explaining the concept, Dr. Upadhyay informed ‘The Hitavada’ that Detection Branch (DB) at police stations and Crime Branch are special units mainly tasked for investigation of crime cases. The cops are also regularly checking criminals by visiting their places. “In spite of regular checking by DB squad or Crime Branch, the criminals are committing crime. This is a matter of grave concern. Hence, we felt the need of a Special Unit that will gather actionable inputs about the criminals. The inputs will be further a...

Experience not being counted during Police Station in-charge appointments

POLICING is all about taking right decision at the right time while dealing with law and order situation or criminals. Every police officer achieves this ability after spending years of service in the field. It is this experience that should count the most while getting important postings. The Mumbai Police are following this rule for decades while appointing police station in-charges but it is not the case in rest of the Police Units in Maharashtra. Appointment of Police Station in-charge is on of the most crucial decisions. Mumbai Police follow the thumb rule of having experienced Senior Police Inspector as in-charges of police stations in their jurisdiction. They release a list of officers who are eligible to become Sr PI in Mumbai Commissionerate. The Establishment Board of Mumbai Police has to follow the list while making appointments. They also discuss available vacancies and capacity of officer during appointment and allot posts accordingly. This process goes a long way in r...