Monday, February 14, 2011

Concept of E-policing


Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of law and order.In modern time,the functions of police has increased manifold which increased the workload on police department.Time is changing at a rapid pace and with the changing environment,there is a need to reform our institutions whether it is police department,judiciary,or anything else but police is the institution which affects every department in our country,so police reforms is the need of the hour.E-Policing is one the most important aspects of police reforms in the world of information technology.E-Policing is the way of bringing community policing to the internet.Community policing is the best way of getting people in confidence and involve them in intelligence sharing process because transparency develops trust between the two parties.Uttar Pradesh Police strongly needs to restore the confidence of people.E-Policing is a very effective tool of reducing the workload on police department. Online crime reporting allows the public to file police reports for some incidents and crimes via the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Police departments can retrieve these reports when police resources are available. This frees up patrol officers who would otherwise spend time tracking down these incidents.Benefits of E-Policing are that the reporting incidents does not require face-to-face contact and it provides better access to a common man living in rural and remote areas.It also reduces the fear to go to police station and file a complaint.It delivers 24/7 police services to people.It makes the police department modern and capable of competing with modern crime and it also reduces the paper work because now information will be stored in computer which ultimately secures our environment.It provides the ability to police department to schedule work more evenly through the day.It also improve linkages with local organizations and partners.E-Policing opens the new way of doing business for the police.E-Policing fosters two-way communication and provides better access for both the public and the police.In an overall perspective we can say that E-Policing signals that police are in synch with new technology, but there is also another factor which cannot be ignored.It is true that,E-policing expands our channels of communication through the Internet but it does not replace telephone or face-to-face contact, which remain important.