Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS)

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS)

Subject: Government schemes

Section: Security

Context: The idea of boosting investigative capabilities through technological interventions such as biological sample collection and iris scans in aid of fingerprints has been in the works for several years.

Steps towards integration of data

• The government has been digitising fingerprints with a plan to integrate all fingerprints available with states and the Centre into the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), the national database on crimes and criminals.
• After 2014, it embarked on a project to integrate IRIS scans and facial recognition systems too with it.
• In 2018, then National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Director said that investigating agencies should be allowed to access the fingerprint data of Aadhaar to identify criminals. NCRB is the nodal agency for the implementation of CCTNS.
• The Home Ministry is working on the integration of the fingerprint database of the Central Finger Print Bureau (CFPB), and get NIST Fingerprint Image Software (NFIS), a technology used by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to match fingerprints.

What is CCTNS project?

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, abbreviated to CCTNS, is a project under the Indian government for creating a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing through e-Governance. The system includes a nationwide online tracking system by integrating more than 14,000 police stations across the country. The project is implemented by National Crime Records Bureau.

History:

The concept of CCTNS was first conceived in the year 2008 in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai attacks. This was then approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in 2009 and was allocated a fund of Rs. 2,000 crore.

Functioning of CCTNS:

CCTNS aims to integrate all the data and records of crime into a Core Application Software (CAS), which is presently spreading across 28 states and 9 union territories of India. CAS was developed by the Bangalore-based IT firm, Wipro. It needs to integrate different software and platforms followed by different states and to digitize records of those states which have not digitized their police records. The project also involves training of police personnel and setting up of citizen portal to provide services to citizens.

Features of Crime and Criminals Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS)

• The Project will interconnect about 15000 Police Stations and additional 5000 offices of supervisory police officers across the country
• It will digitize data related to FIR registration, investigation, and charge sheets in all police stations.
• It would help in developing a national database of crime and criminals
• The total outlay for the project is 2000 crore rupees, and also includes the Operation and Maintenance phase for additional five years up to March 2022.

Benefits:

• The Full implementation of the Project with all the new components would lead to a Central citizen portal having linkages with State level citizen portals that will provide a number of citizen friendly services like Police Verification for various purposes including passport verification, reporting a crime including cyber-crime and online tracking of the case progress
• The project will enable National level crime analytics to be published at increased frequency, which will help the policy makers as well as lawmakers in taking appropriate and timely action, it will also enable Pan-India criminal/accused name search in the regional language for improved inter-state tracking of criminal movement. This would lead to development of a national database of crimes and criminals.