Gujarat cops to get smartphones to curb crime

In a bid to improve crime detection rate, the Gujarat government has come up with a project under which smartphones containing database of people with a criminal background would be distributed to 4900 police personnel in the state.

The 'Pocket Cop' project was launched toady by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar.

Rupani exuded confidence that such an "innovative initiative" would bring down the crime rate in the state by instilling fear in the criminals, said an official release.

Under this project, smartphones containing data of people with a criminal background will be given to 4,900 police personnel, including investigating officers, in-charges of police stations, those deployed in PCR vans and involved in passport verification, it said.

Some police personnel were given the smartphones at a function held in Gandhinagar.

Each smartphone will have four different applications for passport verification, tracing criminals, finding missing persons and for stolen vehicles.

The project was launched for the entire state after its successful trial was held for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad districts, as per the release.

On the occasion, the chief minister announced that every district of the state would be brought under CCTV network to ensure better crime detection.

Ahead of the launch of the project, Rupani attended the passing out parade of 396 newly-inducted police personnel at the Gujarat Police Academy at Karai village near Gandhinagar.

The new recruits included 40 armed police sub-inspectors, 40 intelligence officers (IOs) as well as assistant IOs in the junior cadre, stated the release.