Citizen-centric Services of NCRB | 30 Jan 2020

Why in News

Recently, the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) has launched various police-related citizen-centric services on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) platform.

  • These are being launched in order to promote ‘Ease of Living’ among citizens.
  • Such services are being provided through the state-citizen portals so far but these are being launched centrally for the first time.

National Crime Record Bureau

  • NCRB was set-up in 1986 under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
  • It is headquartered in New Delhi.
  • It was set up based on the recommendations of the National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the MHA’s Taskforce (1985).
  • It was constituted by merging the Directorate of Coordination and Police Computer (DCPC), Inter-State Criminals Data Branch of CBI, Central Finger Print Bureau of CBI and Statistical Branch of BPR&D.
  • NCRB brings out the annual comprehensive statistics of crime across the country through ‘Crime in India’ report.
    • Being published since 1953, the report serves as a crucial tool in understanding the law and order situation across the country.
  • It developed CCTNS in 2009 which interconnects approximately 15000 police stations and 6000 higher offices across the country.
    • CCTNS digitises data related to FIR registration, investigation and charge sheets in all police stations leading to the development of a national database of crimes and criminals.

Key Points

  • Missing Person Search
    • Citizens can search for their missing kin in this user-friendly portal, against the national database of the recovered unidentified found person/dead bodies.
    • This will benefit the relatives of missing persons because all details including photos are available in CCTNS and will be accessible to citizens through this portal.
  • Generate Vehicle NOC
    • It allows citizens to ascertain the status of a vehicle before its second-hand purchase to know if it is suspicious or clean from police records.
    • One can generate and download the relevant No Objection Certificate (NOC) after searching against the National database on vehicle’s details. NOC is required by the Regional Transport Office before the transfer of ownership.
  • CCTNS Hackathon and Cyber Challenge 2020
    • NCRB and Cyber Peace Foundation (global civil society organisation and think tank of cybersecurity and policy experts) have designed it together.
    • The Hackathon aims to enhance skills and deepen understanding of the police personnel at ground level to adopt smart strategies for effectively addressing the evolving threats and to promote coordination with industry and academia.
    • The Challenge invites the participation of law enforcement personnel across all ranks and file, as well as cybersecurity experts (civilians) across India.
  • NCRB and National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), USA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to receive information on child pornography or such related material originating from India.
    • NCMEC is a non-profit organization established by the United States Congress.
    • It has a centralized reporting system by which internet service providers across the world or intermediaries like Facebook, Youtube, etc. can report about persons who circulate images of child pornography.
  • Cyber Tipline monitoring facility
    • It is a centralised system for reporting online exploitation of children.
    • The public and electronic service providers can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, molestation, pornography, sex tourism, sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names and misleading words or digital images on the internet.

Source: PIB