Assam Police finalise plans for Regional Cyber Crime Coordination Centre in state: DGP Singh

Guwahati, Oct. 30: Cybercrime is an area of priority for the Assam Police. "We are actively associating with the Indian Cyber Crime Co-ordination Centre not only to take action against cyber criminals but also to coordinate and build capacity amongst cyber investigators", the Director General of Assam Police, GP Singh said.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Singh said that the Assam Police has finalised plans to set up a Regional Cyber Crime Coordination Centre in Assam. It would be funded by the Government of India and is likely to be functional soon.

Cybercrime police stations at CID and Guwahati City and Cyber Crime out-posts at Dibrugarh and Silchar have also been set up.

The Assam Police is planning to set up cybercrime police stations in districts that see higher registration of cybercrimes. Assam Police is an active participant in Cyber Tipline, a cybercrime reporting portal and 1930 Initiative with encouraging results. A lot of work is being done against cyber child pornography by Assam Police. The coming years will see a lot of emphasis on the prevention and detection of cybercrimes. There is an extensive awareness campaign being carried out by Assam Police against cybercrime through traditional and social media platforms, he said.

On the issue of separating the investigation wing of the Assam Police from law and order, the DGP said that with the improved law and order situation and the militancy on the decline across the State, the process of separating the law and order from investigation is slowly but steadily taking shape. "We have specially-trained Crime Scene Officers in every Police Station [trained at National Forensics Sciences University, Gandhi Nagar] who assist the Investigation Officers in evidence collection in a scientific manner. This in conjunction with the increased emphasis on Forensics would go a long way in specializing the investigation wing. Every district has been provided with a newly created post of Additional SP Crime who will exclusively handle the investigation of crime," he said.

When pointed out that agencies like the CBI have a special legal cell, the DGP said that the Assam Police has Legal Advisors in specialised agencies like the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Vigilance and anti-corruption. At the district level, legal advice is sought by the District Superintendent of Police from the Government Advocates and Public Prosecutors, the DGP said.

- By R Dutta Choudhury