Obsolete wireless sets, defunct CCTV cams, poor data: CAG report on Delhi Police

New Delhi: An obsolete wireless system, poor crime mapping and online intelligence gathering and unsatisfactory functioning of CCTV cameras are some of the serious issues that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is said to have flagged in its report on Delhi police functioning and logistics.
ET has learnt that the first-ever comprehensive performance audit report, expected to be tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, also highlights the enormous handicaps the city police faces because of almost 35 % shortage of staff and inadequate logistics at police stations.

The wireless communication that the police mainly relies on is two-decade old trunking “APCO system”, the report is said to have observed. The conventional wireless system sets declined from 9,638 in June 2009 to 6,172 in June 2019 despite requirement has increased over the years, the auditors are believed to have pointed out.

Of the 3,870 CCTV cameras in the city, the CAG report apparently states, 31% have become non-functional while 44 % are partly functional.

The auditors have come down heavily on Delhi police for its weak digital initiatives. Though the Delhi police has moved on to an online, real-time version of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) at all locations, the CAG is believed to have raised concerns over the quality of data entered into the system. The auditors apparently have picked up vulnerabilities in the CCTNS security architecture as well, as it learnt to have remarked that it is based on obsolete technology which have not been addressed so far.

A Rs40 cr World Bank-funded project for data integration and intelligence gathering had to be aborted due to inability to finalise vendors, the CAG is understood to have stated in its report. The "Himmat Plus Mobile App" launched in February 2018 for women safety has failed to get good response from users, stated the CAG report.