In order to make the local police force self-reliant to a great extent in solving cases related to cyber crimes, cyber cells will be brought up in all the 24 districts of Jharkhand in the course of next six months.
To be formed at each district headquarters, these cyber cells will be charged with the responsibility to help Investigation Officers with cyber crimes in districts as well as act as a link between district police and Cyber Crime Police Station in Ranchi in cases handled by the latter.
“Plans are to form panels in cyber cells comprising of four officials with ranks of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Inspector, Sub Inspector and Constable. The idea is to facilitate cyber crime investigations in districts and establish a medium between districts and cyber thana,” stated Sampat Meena, Inspector General, Crime Investigation Department.
The police officials selected to man the district-level cyber cells will undergo training sessions to instruct them in methodologies of cracking cyber crimes and associated legal aspects.
“In the first phase of the initiative, we intend to prepare at least two officials in every district capable of handling cyber crime cases. Their training will focus on basic investigation techniques required for looking into cyber crimes, be it writing case diaries or collecting information or tracing perpetrators through their digital footprints and such,” said Meena
She further added, “They will also be made well-versed in provisions of IT Act and Evidence Act. Additionally, they will be taught about sources they can ask for technical assistance in times of need.”
Workforce of the newly established Cyber Crime Police Station will also be made trained to hone their investigation skills. “Their training will be more specialised in nature. They will also be prepared to perform duties of trainers to other police personnel in future,” said Meena.
Resource persons from renowned institutions working in the field of cyber security like Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Data Security Council of India and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team will be invited to oversee the training sessions. Depending on the availability of resource persons, the training will begin shortly, Meena said.
Apart from these short-term strategies, Jharkhand police also has long-term plans to increase police stations in the State which specialises in handling crimes in the digital world. “It is inevitable that we have to focus more on cyber crimes.
Considering the increasing volume of cases coming to us, we have plans to open more cyber police stations at range-level. But as we still studying the various aspects of this idea, our focus, for the time being, will be on forming and strengthening the district cyber cells,” said Meena.