With phone snatching and bike lifting cases increasing, the police have come up with a mobile phone application, Digicop, that will enable victims to lodge a complaints as well as check if stolen valuables have been recovered without visiting the police stations.
Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan and actor Vijay Sethupathi launch the mobile app on Wednesday
Chennai:
The app will also help the second-hand mobile phone buyers to check if the equipment is a stolen handset.
The application, developed by Nasscom, was launched by actor Vijay Sethupathi along with Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan at the commissionerate in presence of other senior officers.
Speaking to DT Next, the Additional Commissioner (North) R Dhinakaran said, “If somebody wants to check if the mobile phone that they are buying is not involved in a case, they can enter the IMEI number in the app. If it shows a red sign, it is not advisable to buy that phone as it has been stolen from elsewhere. If it shows a green sign, one can go ahead and buy it,” said the officer. He said it will keep a check on market for the stolen mobile phones. Now, the application has a database of about 18,000 lost mobile phones and it will be increased.
To make the app effective, victims should not hesitate to lodge complaints about lost phones and the IMEI number will be immediately uploaded in the database. The details of the phone can be entered in the application itself. The application will show the nearest police station from your location in case if you need to visit it and traffic congestion in different parts of the city. The Police Department has plans to add more features to the app in future.
Though CCTNS citizen portal already has the option of lodging complaints online, DigiCop is an exclusive window to report thefts. Commissioner AK Viswanathan said that the department will recommend the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) to incorporate the mobile application in police stations across the country so that stolen mobile phones can be tracked even if it reaches other states.