Relevance: GS-2 (Governance) & GS-3 (Internal Security, Cyber Security) |Source: The Indian Express

1. What is the News?

The Delhi Police is starting a major new project to modernize grassroots policing. Senior officers (DCP rank and above) will officially “adopt” 100 local police stations.

• The Administrative Goal: To upgrade these traditional stations into modern, tech-friendly, and citizen-centric hubs. The focus is on using modern technology to stop crime while increasing police accountability and public trust.

2. The Tech Upgrade (The AI Push)

To fight modern crimes, an administrator must equip the police force with modern tools:

• Predictive Policing: Instead of reacting after a crime happens, the police will use Artificial Intelligence (AI). The AI studies years of past crime data to predict future “crime hotspots,” allowing police to patrol the right areas at the right time.
• Digital Records (CCTNS): Giving officers on the ground instant access to national criminal databases on their mobile devices to quickly check a suspect’s background.
• Smart Cameras (Facial Recognition): Upgrading CCTV networks with technology that can automatically scan and identify wanted criminals hiding in a crowd.
• Drones & Body Cameras: Using drones to safely manage large protests. Also, making it mandatory for officers to wear body cameras. This records indisputable video evidence for courts and ensures the police behave properly with citizens.

3. The Human Touch (Community Policing)

Technology alone cannot stop crime; it needs a sensitive, humanistic approach:

• Public Trust: Rebuilding a friendly relationship with the public by holding regular meetings with local Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and Mohalla committees.
• Protecting the Vulnerable: Setting up dedicated women help desks, all-women patrol units, and speeding up investigations involving crimes against women and missing children.
• Ethics Training: Training police personnel in leadership and ethics so they behave like a public “service” rather than just an aggressive “force.”

4. The Administrative Challenges (Critical Analysis)

While AI sounds perfect, a future administrator must be careful about two major risks:

• Algorithmic Bias: AI learns from historical police records. If past policing was unfairly biased against certain poor or minority neighborhoods, the AI will simply copy that bias. It will wrongly label those areas as “dangerous” and subject innocent people to heavy, unfair policing.
• The Privacy Threat: Using mass facial recognition and drones can easily violate an innocent citizen’s fundamental Right to Privacy (recognized in the landmark Puttaswamy Judgment). Data collection must be strictly controlled by law.

UPSC Value Box 

• State Subject: Under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are strictly State subjects. However, Delhi is an exception; its police force is controlled by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• Prakash Singh Case (2006): The most important Supreme Court judgment regarding police reforms in India. It directed states to free the police from political interference.
• CCTNS: Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems. A government project that digitally connects all police stations across India to share crime data.

With reference to police administration and technological modernization in India, consider the following statements:

1. Under the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are strictly Union subjects uniformly managed by the Central Government across all States.
2. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) aims to create a comprehensive and integrated national database of crimes and criminals.
3. ‘Predictive Policing’ utilizes Artificial Intelligence to analyze historical crime data to identify potential future crime hotspots.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (b)