Power to seek call records to be only with DCPs

NOIDA: The district police have decided to centralise its surveillance system, under which only deputy commissioners of police will have the authority to source call records of suspected criminals from telecom companies.
Until now, officers in the rank of SSP and SP could seek records of call details. But it was often found that even junior-level officers — such as SHOs and sub-inspectors — would also keep tabs on call records of suspected criminals. This would often lead to speculation that information regarding criminals was being compromised.
Now that the district has turned into a commissionerate, the office of the commissioner of police has written to the state home department that DCPs be given separate IDs that will enable them to contact telecom companies for call records.
DCP (central Noida) Harish Chander confirmed that only three DCPs would now be empowered to contact telecom companies. Fresh IDs would anyway need to be created for the DCPs as IDs under the previous SSP regime have now become defunct.
“Under the previous regime, multiple officers had been sourcing information from telecom companies. This process raised the possibility of misusing surveillance rights. It was felt that this should be done away with,” the officer said.
Additional DCP Ranvijay Singh said that under the new set-up, a team working under the respective DCP would be able to use surveillance rights. But as long as the IDs aren’t ready for DCPs, the ID of the commissioner of police could be used for surveillance. Also, some local SHOs have been using IDs from neighbouring districts to keep tabs.
“The new IDs will be created by the National Informatics Centre on the directions of the home department,” an officer said.