Visakhapatnam to soon have cyber police station and forensic laboratory

Visakhapatnam: The much-delayed cyber crime police station and cyber forensic laboratory in Vizag city will be a reality within two months. However, both would be established on a temporary basis at Vuda Complex near Siripuram  as the cops are yet to get suitable land for the project. Though the cyber crime police station and cyber forensic laboratory were sanctioned to Vizag around two years ago, it was delayed for various reasons, including fund crunch.

AP police have been depending on the cyber forensic laboratory located in Hyderabad as there is no laboratory to detect virtual frauds in the state. Having their own priorities, the Hyderabad laboratory has been taking their own time to trace the cyber criminals. A senior police officer said that with the Internet and social media becoming a way of life, the number of cyber crimes has been increasing steadily in Vizag, Vijayawada and few others parts of the state over the years. The cyber crimes increased to 1,051 in 2017 from 718 in 2016 in the state, an rise of over 46 per cent.

Besides crimes for financial gain, the motives also include cheating, insulting the modesty of women, sexual exploitation and personal revenge or settling scores in the state. There are also a few cyber crimes related to political motives to tarnish the image of opponents or rivals hindering their activities and growth.
As cops in AP are still ill-equipped in terms of manpower and technology, the impact of which can be known in the fact that  over 900 cyber cases are still under investigation in Vizag, which has emerged as the capital of cyber crimes in the state, he added.

Stating that the works for of the cyber crime police station and cyber forensic lab have begun at VUDA Complex, Inspector of Cyber Crimes, V. Gopinath said if all goes as per plans, the project will take off by March,  2018. The cops are seeking the technical help of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)-Thiruvanantha-puram for the project. If the lab is set up, the investigation can be done here and that will give us enough leads and time to delve further into the case, Mr Gopinath added. Once it commences, the strength will be three inspectors, six sub-inspectors, about 20 constables and a few assistant sub-inspectors.