BENGALURU: With an eye to augment the use of forensic expertise, including digital and cyber forensics in criminal investigation including crimes against women in Karnataka, the police are utilising the Nirbhaya Fund to strengthen the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bengaluru and its five regional units in the State.
“We have received Rs 13 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund from the Central Government and we are using the amount towards strengthening the three critical forensic services -- DNA, questioned document and cyber forensics -- at FSL, Madiwala. The five regional FSL units in the State, which didn’t have these three services will soon be equipped with them as well,” said DG&IGP Praveen Sood.
Nirbhaya Fund is a dedicated fund set up by the Central Government to implement initiatives aimed at enhancing women’s safety and security. The police are increasingly using forensic evidence in investigation of cases of rape, sexual assault and other crimes against women. “DNA, questioned document and cyber forensics are critical for police investigation and have been lagging for some time for want of expertise and equipment.
The new FSL building in Madiwala was inaugurated recently, but the biggest roadblock was manpower. We are now in the process of appointing 50 scientific officers and would soon recruit 100 more. Besides manpower we are also importing specialised equipment for the state-of-the-art laboratory,” he said.Along with technology there is also a need for adequate human resource, he said.
“We are moving towards officer-oriented policing. Till recently, there were 500 rural police stations in Karnataka, which had only one police sub-inspector. We now have minimum two PSIs per police station, because it is not possible for one officer to head a police station. We have recruited 500 PSIs and are in the process of recruiting 550 more.
Soon, I will notify another 400 PSIs for 2022,” said the police chief. He explained that there are police stations which have four, six and eight PSIs. They will now also have an inspector as the supervisory officer. “We have redeployed 80 PIs and will soon redeploy 40 more. These posts have been created after surrendering some posts, which were unproductive,” he explained.
The state police have made a big shift in its procurement and auctioning process; from the labyrinthine paperwork and tendering process to online procurement and auction of old vehicles. “We are increasingly using Government portals like Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal for our procurement purposes and MSTC (e-auction site). We have got our procurements in 10 days and are able to get better prices for our old vehicles,” he said.