TELEMETRIC policing refers to ‘distant surveillance of crime, disorder, offending traffic violations, breach of rules and other similar situations by the police’, employing electronic apparatuses which include: CCTV, safety cameras, bar code readers, magnetic stripes, radio frequency identification devices, radars, drone cameras and other similar instruments which enable the police to see and find out what has gone wrong and who is doing wrong to whom, why and how. However, police telemetry is yet to receive any political attention in Pakistan.

Telemetric is a practical digital policing application, like biometric and forensic, to gather data but unlike biometrics and forensic, which require physical contact for their applications, the telemetric model operates from remote digital sources.

Telemetrics is defined as a technology that involves the automatic measurement and transmission of data from remote sources. The process of measuring the data at the source and transmitting it automatically is called telemetry.

Policing worldwide is witnessing drastic changes in the wake of emerging digitalisation in almost all spheres of life. In the last 15 years this trend has expanded vastly because of the development of technologies of social media, as well as of telemetric surveillance.

Many digital policing experts believe that the new telemetric policing technologies are accurate, reliable and cost-effective. When violations or offences are identified through telemetric processes, much revenue is generated in the shape of fines.

It is important for us to adopt telemetric policing because corruption and inefficient policing methods are eating into the vitals of public peace. Going telemetric by the police department has become inevitable now. The National Police Bureau in liaison with the National Counter-Terrorism Authority and the interior mnistry must frame policy guidelines for the introduction of this system throughout Pakistan.

Javed Jiskani Baloch

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2016