Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday urged the police to don the garb of ‘cyber warriors’ to thwart efforts of cyber criminals, even as he made a case for drones being ‘first responders’.
Mr Rao was speaking at the inauguration of the Telangana State Police Public Safety Integrated Operations Center and Data Centre, where he suggested that the Home Department enter into a dialogue with the Director General of Civil Aviation and take requisite permissions to implement drone policing.
“Talk to the Director General of Civil Aviation. Say that we would like to use police drones,” he said, adding that these drones, which would have a siren and camera installed, would be the first responders.
This, he said, would drastically reduce time taken to reach the scene of crime, and the the second responder can be officers in-person. “It is imperative that we have to stay on that cutting edge of technology to ensure we remain proactive and not reactive,” he added.
Cyber crime
The IT Minister said that while the crime rate has witnessed a drop, cyber criminals use the advantage of anonymity and that police should become cyber warriors. “Telangana Police should be adequately upskilled and reskilled on the technologies which perpetrators of cyber crime are using so that they can thwart their efforts, and make our city and State safe,” he said.
Mr Rao said the Police Public Safety Integrated Operations Center and Data Centre would integrate all line departments, and is backed by a tier-3 data centre.
He added that the Police Command and Control Centre with a budget of ₹600 crore would be ready in two months. The building, he said, would be iconic.
Touching upon a recent survey on CCTV cameras in the city, Mr Rao said Hyderabad has 65% of CCTV cameras in the country, and reiterated the need for 10 lakh cameras for the city.
Ambulance routes
He suggested that a system be developed which would calculate shortest and most efficient route for ambulances to reach hospitals during ‘golden hours’ and integrate it with police systems.
The Public Safety Integrated Operations Center is spread over two floors with the ground floor housing operations and real-time monitoring, emergency response systems.
CCTV footage
The first floor houses the Data Centre. Footage from as many as 15,000 CCTVs can be monitored. The new facility will use big data, artificial intelligence, computer vision and facial recognition.
Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy and Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar were present at the event.