Digitising criminal records: CNICs, cell phone numbers to be included in FIRs

Information to be incorporated in central computerised database

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police plan to record CNIC as well as mobile numbers of the accused in all FIR index forms.

This information will then be incorporated into a central computerised database maintained at the Central Police Office, stated a handout. The initiative began two years ago and only five years worth of data has been digitised thus far. Officers enter records into the database at each individual police station, which can be accessed by all police stations and the central office through the server.

In a briefing held by AIG Investigations on Friday, IGP Nasir Khan Durrani was updated on the current status of implementation. An official reported, “Within the past nine months, at least 113,044 accused were reported for various offences throughout the province, out of which the antecedents containing CNIC and mobile numbers of 106,201 accused have been recorded in the central database.”

The digitisation of criminal records is of significance; the database will comprise digitised records in line with international practices.

Furthermore, police officers deployed at check posts will have access to the database through criminal record verification system, vehicle verification system and tablets to apprehend absconders and proclaimed offenders.

The central database also provides for hotspot policing which plays a pivotal role in crime prevention. Based on geo-tagging crime scenes, K-P police have been tagging terrorism, and criminal activities.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2015.