Indian police stations are struggling to access computers as cybercrime zooms
Sep 13, 2019, 08:43 IST
- In India only two third of the police stations across 22 states have access to a functional computer.
- One in every five Indian police officer says they don't have to technology to investigate cyber crimes.
- Forget computers, one in every ten police station do not have access to drinking water.
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In India, a third of police stations across 22 states do not have access to a functional computer, reported Status of Policing in India 2019. This is in spite of the fact that cybercrime in India grew by a massive 457% in the last five years. Yet, one in every five Indian police officers says they don't have to technology to investigate cyber crimes.
The police are not well equipped to handle offline crimes either. As many as 46% police officials said they have faced a situation when they needed a vehicle but didn't get any. Moreover, 41% say that they are understaffed, and unable to reach a crime scene on time.
The state government typically allocates 3% of its budget to the police department. However, most of the allocated budget goes into salaries and other capital expenditure, leaving no room for development.
The resources in police departments are so low that 28% say they purchased stationery, carbon paper in the past 2-3 years from their pocket to keep the work going.
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Screenshot from Status of Policing in India 2019
According to the study, many police stations lack clean toilets and drinking water facilities. As many as 18% of police officers said their station doesn’t have clean bathrooms.
Further, 10% of the police personnel said they do not have a drinking water facility. In fact, some of the police stations do not even have a sitting area or provision for food, all of which affect their ability to devote more time towards investigation.
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The police officers in India are already overworked as they pull in 14 hour shifts, and miss weekly offs sometimes.
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