City police to start gathering biometric data of criminals
   Date :09-Jun-2022

City police 
 
 
 
 
By Dheeraj Fartode
TOP brass of Nagpur police, on Wednesday, issued an order to all 34 police stations for immediate implementation of Automated Multi-modal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS). The order was issued after a news report published by ‘The Hitavada’ on May 30 revealed how the biometric scanners, including palm and iris recognition scanners, provided by the State to aid the force in investigations were gathering dust at police stations.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Detection Chinmay Pandit issued the order stating that the AMBIS was implemented in Maharashtra from May 13. Hardware and software connection were done at all 34 police stations in Nagpur city for the system.
“The police personnel who were trained for MESA software, should be deployed at police stations to handle the AMBIS system to take digital fingerprints of arrested, convicted, externed and absconding accused persons and deceased,” DCP Pandit stated in the order.
It may be mentioned that the AMBIS is equipped with biometric data of 6.5 lakh criminals that can be accessed at a single click. Mumbai, Thane city, Navi Mumbai, Pune city, Nagpur city, Nashik city, Aurangabad city and Latur district police units were selected for the implementation of the project on pilot basis. The police officers can store fingerprints, iris and photographs of criminals using the system. The stored information has tremendous potential to identify the criminals and this first lead is most crucial in investigating the offences, stated a police official.
Despite the orders being issued by State police, Nagpur police were delaying implementation of the system. A fact-check at various city police stations had revealed that the devices were not being utilised by Nagpur police. Many police officers had told ‘The Hitavada’ that they had not received instructions from their superiors on using the system. Instead of using the digital palm scanner, police officers are still using century old manual scanners, it has come to the fore. Non-utilisation of costly devices was nothing but wastage of public money.
The AMBIS includes a computer with special software, portable palm scanner, biometric iris recognition scanner and camera to capture fingerprints from crime scenes. The Maharashtra Cyber had selected a French company through tendering to provide both hardware and software for the project and total cost of the project is around Rs 55 crore.