KARACHI: Police authorities on Wednesday set up a committee comprising senior police officers and chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) to prepare a proposal for software development to upgrade and link criminal record system (CRO) with law-enforcement agencies and jails of other provinces besides the judiciary and other stakeholders.

The database of held suspects at all police stations and prisoners in all jails across Sindh will be collected and linked up, while 75 police stations in the metropolis have already been computerised after the installation of a software programme designed especially for the purpose.

The decisions were taken at a meeting, which was chaired by Sindh IG A.D. Khowaja, held at the Central Police Office (CPO). Karachi police chief Mushtaq Mahar, Zubair Habib of the CPLC and other senior police officers also attended the meeting.

“The meeting was briefed about significance of the CRO system and the steps being taken to preserve record of the fingerprints of all jail inmates as well as the suspects lodged in police lock-ups,” said a statement issued after the meeting.

It was decided that record of held suspects at the remaining police stations across the city would also be computerised under the CRO system.

The system would then be expanded further to cover all police stations across the province, the meeting was informed.

The fresh move came days after last month’s meeting which had decided that a software programme would be developed for registration of smartphones along with subscriber’s identity module (SIM) so that whenever a complaint of phone theft or lost was received, the mobile phone would be blocked immediately.

Officials said that the Sindh police decided to bring reforms in the law-enforcement agency through technological support and the move to computerise CRO and establish database of the prisoners was part of that policy.

To develop the CRO system along modern lines, the police authorities were in contact with Nadra, the meeting was informed. It was said that a comprehensive plan for strong coordination with the federal authority had been established to ensure prompt access to finger-matching technology and criminals’ record.

An official who attended the meeting said it was decided that apart from basic particulars in the data, computerised national identity card (CNIC) number along with photographs and fingerprints of criminals would also be made part of the database.

“After the move to develop software to block stolen smartphones, the establishment of CRO project on modern lines will be a second major achievement of the Sindh police,” said the official. “Once it’s done, it will help police investigators to quickly get the required facts which usually take time and also require additional cost. It will also improve the traditional investigation methods of police,” he added.

Published in Dawn February 2nd, 2017