Cops lazy to go online, paperless project stays on paper

Bengaluru: The cab driver nabbed for trying to kidnap a 22-year-old woman from outside her PG accommodation on April 24 turned out to be an accused in an earlier case of attempt to murder. Given that background verification of drivers is mandatory for app-based aggregators, finding out the cabbie's criminal antecedents before employing him could have been a crucial step in crime prevention.
But as it happens in most cases, his background came to light only after he had committed another crime. Over the past few years, there has been a hue and cry for background verification, may be it cab drivers, teachers or security guards. However, in most cases, background verification fails to come up with relevant information and only after fresh crimes are committed do the skeletons tumble out.
Though many agree that one solution is networking police documents like the list of criminals in the area and their crimes, PoliceIT, an ambitious project of Karnataka police to go paperless, remains on the paper. The project which envisages to network such documents has hit the road block as field personnel refused to let go of the pen and paper.
The comptroller and auditor general has in its report to the home department had stated that the project was underused and several documents were not available on the PoliceIT network. Following this, DG&IGP Om Prakash has issued orders, mandating updating all documents pertaining to police work on the network. "Sufficient training has been imparted to officers and staff at all units but the PoliceIT application is not being used to its fullest potential," read the order.
According to senior officers, while there's good compliance in filing FIR online, documents like case diaries, witness statements, rowdy register, crime statistics and analysis are not available on the network.
What is PoliceIT application
Records of all activities from basic policing functions like crime, law and order maintenance and traffic to ancillary functions like police motor transport and training will have to be maintained on a server. Such documents can be accessed by police stations across the state. Instead of dispatching documents to seniors or collecting information about a case from another station physically, documents can be made available at the fingertips.
Documents to go paperless
All investigation-related documents - FIR, station house diary, mahajar, witness statements, case diaries, arrests, seizures, final reports
All records maintained by the station - crime register, MoB files, rowdy register, history sheets, village crime records, verification register, petition register etc.
Crime statistics and analysis, FIR status report, dynamic reports.
Information on stolen vehicles.
All verifications done by the police station.
Where all it installed
Police IT has been installed at 925 police stations, 235 circle offices, 135 sub-divisions, 30 districts, 5 police commissionrates, 6 range offices, 11 KSRP battalions, 2 IRB battalions, 6 basic training schools, CID, ISD, coastal security division, FSL and chief's office across the state.