GUWAHATI, Feb 5 - The State has witnessed for the first time in several years a downward slide in the incidence of heinous crimes such as murder, robbery, dacoity, crime against women, crime against children, kidnapping and extortion this year.
Revealing this, DGP, Assam, Mukesh Sahay told the media that cyber crimes on the other hand showed an increasing trend, and matters were complicated by the lack of the required expertise in State Police.
�As per criminal analysis data for 2016, heinous crimes have diminished after a long-standing increasing trend. This is the proverbial silver lining and we are happy but not complacent either. As for cyber crimes, there is an urgent need for capacity building for Assam Police. We need more laboratories and training for our officers,� he said.
Sahay said with the Government�s thrust on digital transactions, cyber crimes, especially cyber frauds could go up. �Cyber criminals are likely to use the transition period to their advantage but we are also enhancing our preparedness for tackling such crimes,� he said.
The State Police has given a proposal for setting up cyber police stations, while a mobile forensic laboratory is also on the anvil. �The cyber police station may take some time but the mobile forensic lab - to be set up with assistance from the IT Department of the Government of India and the State Government � will come up soon. Analysis of digital evidence such as sms and call records in cell-phones is crucial for solving cyber crimes and the lab will go a long way towards that end,� he said.
On the ongoing investigations into the APSC cash-for-job scam, the DGP said that a lot of digital evidence was being examined in the seized answer-scripts. �Those have been sent to Hyderabad and Gandhinagar labs for tests as we do not have the facilities as yet,� he said.
