Be smart, formulate ‘common technology’ to check crime, improve policing: PM Modi to states

PTI, Oct 28, 2022, 4:14 PM IST

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday insisted on having a police technology mission that will enable all states to have the best common technology and mutual cooperation for crime prevention.

Addressing a gathering of home ministers of states to deliberate on issues of internal security — ‘Chintan Shivir’ — here, he said while ensuring the best technology the states should avoid any budgetary constraints that may come in the way of adoption of technological advancements.

The prime minister said the criminal world has globalised and stressed that ”we need to be ten steps ahead” of them (criminals).

The prime minister pointed out that crime is no longer localised and instances of interstate, international crimes are going up.

”That is why mutual cooperation between state agencies and between central and state agencies is becoming crucial,” Modi said.

He said whether it is cybercrime or the use of drone technologies for the smuggling of weapons or drugs, the government needs to keep working towards new technologies to tackle the menace.

”The law and order system can be improved with the help of smart technology,” the prime minister said.

He said 5G technology, along with its benefits, brings the need for a heightened alert.

”With the help of 5G, the performance of facial recognition technology, automatic number plate recognition technology, drone and CCTV related technology, are going to improve manifolds,” Modi said.

But, the pace we move forward to, the world that is into committing crime has also been globalised and they have also become interstate, he said.

”They have also become forward in technology, meaning we need to be ten steps ahead of them,” the prime minister said.

He requested the chief ministers and home ministers to seriously assess the need for technology, going beyond the constraints of the budget as this technology will percolate the confidence of security among common citizens.

”We need to make our law and order system smart… My request is that please don’t weigh technology with budget (constraints),” Modi said in his address.

The prime minister mentioned the police technology mission of the central government and stressed the need for a common platform as differing technologies of different states do not talk to each other.

”Many states are working on it (technological upgrades) in their own capabilities. But what has come to the fore is that our technologies do not talk to each other and that is why our energy gets wasted,” Modi said.

He asked the states to ”think with a big heart” about a common platform. ”We should have a pan India outlook, all our best practices should be interoperable and should have a common link,” Modi said.