Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police has launched a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the rising incidence of cybercrimes in the state.
Inaugurating the second phase of ambitious cybercrime training programme of Odisha Police here, Director General of Police (DGP) Rajendra Prasad Sharma said an action plan has been put in place to create a pool of cyber investigators based at district and local police station level.
As many as 200 officers in the rank of sub-inspectors/inspectors have been identified who, with proper training, can deal with the cybercrime cases at the local level.
The DGP said that as an initial step, four territorial Cyber Police Stations have already been set up at Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur along with one Cyber Cell at each district headquarters.
Proposal has been sent for establishment of additional three Cyber Police Stations at Koraput, Balasore and Bhubaneswar.
According to Sharma, a three-phase training programme, in association with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), has been designed to impart necessary professional skills to the officials so that they are capable enough to handle the cases at their level.
The main focus of the training is cyber offences against children, especially girls.
Unicef has been actively associated with this training programme. Persons competent in different domains of cybercrime have been invited from across the country to interact and impart professional skills to police officers.
Sharma further said that instructions have been issued to field units for spreading massive awareness in the community to prevent cybercrimes. Odisha Police is contemplating to launch a cyber awareness week across the state.
In this campaign intensive efforts would be made to reach maximum people across the state. It would involve various stakeholders including community organisations, students, teachers, bank and other associations.
Social media platforms would also be effectively used to generate maximum impact across the different cross sections of the society.
Sharma said steps are being taken to modernise cyber forensics infrastructure. The work of the Cyber Forensic Lab-cum-Training Centre with ultra-modern equipment is at advanced stage in the state capital.
Cyber forensic consultants would be engaged to impart regular and continuous training, Sharma added.
With this multi-pronged strategy, police would be able to deal with the rising trend of cybercrimes more effectively, the police chief said.
