The cyber crime cell, Pune, recently launched a DVD especially for the police personnel. The DVD contains website links and information on hundreds of subjects — from different acts proposed in the country from 1836 to a cyber crime manual in English and Marathi to tools for all kinds of investigation, may it be missing persons, forgery or Nigerian frauds.
Apart from making the Pune police internet-savvy, the DVD also aims to reduce unnecessary legwork of the police force by making available investigation information at the click of a mouse.
Rajendra Dahale, deputy commissioner of police, cyber cell , said, "We would be sending five copies of the DVD to the director general of police in Mumbai and they would accordingly distribute the copies to different police officials."
Sangeeta Shinde Alphonso, inspector, cyber crime cell, said, "There are numerous websites that can be used by the police to accelerate their investigation. In the past, many police officials would often call us with internet-related queries while doing investigations. We therefore decided to make a DVD containing all possible links of websites that could be used in investigations."
It contains the IT Act as well as all acts enacted in the country from 1836 to 2000, their explanation and related laws. "A list of internet tools for investigation purposes has also been made available — like the ones that can be used for cyber forensic or tools that can tell you everything you need to know about JPEG images or a software that lists all USB devices connected to a computer," said Alphonso.
There are website links that would also help the police search for the accused, missing persons and identification of dead bodies. "There are websites which can trace a mobile number`s geographical state as well as the telecom company it belongs to. We have enclosed links of such websites, apart from including website links that explain in detail the procedures to send an exhibit to the forensics or for DNA testing," she said.
In addition, there are websites to recognise forged currency notes, find IP addresses or those that can help police gauge whether an unknown vehicle is stolen. "Furthermore, links to translation websites, list of private security agencies, website links on what to do in cases of credit card frauds, links on human rights commission, bomb detection, and crime rate in different states have also been mentioned," said Sanjay Tungar, assistant inspector, cyber crime cell.
The DVD also has all website links related to government offices and posts as well as those that can be used to check whether various types of certificates — such as birth or death or domicile or marriage certificates — are original or bogus. "Being able to check all of this online will save a lot of legwork for police and accelerate investigations," said Alphonso, who along with Tungar has been working on the creation of this DVD as well as relevant data collection since the past two months.