Haryana Police in process of setting up Regional Cybercrime Coordination Centre: DGP

The Haryana Police is in the process of establishing a Regional Cybercrime Coordination Centre in the state to comprehensively deal with online criminal activities.

Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Yadava said on Wednesday the facility would act as a nodal point to contain the menace and assist the force in enhancing its capability in cyber investigations.

A proposal to establish the centre has already been sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. After getting the approval, the centre would be established in the year 2021, he said.

There has been a phenomenal increase in use of computers, smartphones and the Internet over a period of time. With this, cybercrime has emerged as a major challenge for the police, the DGP said.

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"Increased use of technology due to the coronavirus pandemic has also led to sharp rise in cybercrime incidents. Addition of more capability would help us detect technology-based crime effectively," Yadava said in a statement here.

The DGP said that Haryana Police is committed to providing and creating an ecosystem for dealing with cybercrimes in a comprehensive and coordinated.

Police is also creating Cyber Response Centres by enlarging its existing cyber cells to deal with complaints such as bank frauds, misuse of payment gateways and social media among others, he said.

Terming 2020 as a good year for Haryana Police in terms of enhancing capability in handling cybercrimes, the DGP said this year, the state government had sanctioned creation of six cyber police stations, one each in Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal, Ambala, Rewari and Faridabad.

A total of 264 posts of police officials and technical experts have been created for these police stations. Apart from this, two cyber police stations were already functional at Gurgaon and Panchkula.

In addition, a Cyber Forensic Laboratory has been set up at Panchkula at a cost of ₹2.30 crore under the scheme Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children, Yadava said.

The DGP said that more cyber security awareness programmes would also be conducted in the coming year to save children from cyber bullying and cyber stalking. At the same time, advisories pertaining to cybercrime were also being shared with the general public through social media platforms, he added.