Technology and Policing in India- Exploring the Issues and Challenges

Technology plays a vital role in all walks of life. Crime and crime investigation is no exception to this scenario. As technology evolved so did the crimes. Technology is being used as a tool to commit a crime. Traditional crime investigation technique might not be compatible to resolve this problem. Currently information and communication technology has been used by police to store, collect and share data. Space technology is also been used in India for collecting real time information which helps in predicting the occurrence of a crime. Similarly, applications are developed in such a way to alert police in case of emergency. CCTV is used through the country to keep a watch on commission of crime. These recordings play a vital role in investigating and arresting a crime suspect. Face recognition technologies are also used to identify the suspect. A person’s social media profile can be used to know about him. On the other hand, use of technology by police has also leads to repercussion like breach of privacy. It is worth noting that there is no legislation to regulate the use of technology by police. Although we have Information Technology Act 2000, it does not provide exclusively for use of Information Technology by Police. Usage of technology in preventing and investigating crime needs proper training. Technologies that are invented in other countries might be expensive. Police and private sector partnership is essential for using technology, which could only be achieved through a legislative back up. The author in this research paper examines a wide range of technology being used by modern police in India, legislative lacunas, issues and challenges in using technology and recommend a suitable solution for the problem.