Hyderabad. Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir has said that the smart policing is the need of the hour.

He was speaking at the 19th All India Conference of Directors of Finger Print Bureaux in Hyderabad June 21.

Mr Ahir said that there is a need to amend the Identification of Prisoners Act 1920, to provide legal authority for taking of finger impressions, photographs and measurements of persons arrested. Use of technology by criminals is posing a new challenge to the police force in solving crimes, he noted.

The Minister said that the data base of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which has just 11.5 lakh finger print records needs to be expanded. He said that finger print evidence is considered reliable by investigators and jurists as it is fool proof and an effective forensic tool.

Mr Ahir stressed on the need to modernise the police force and said smart policing is the need of the hour, at a time when criminals have access to technology and are using it to commit crimes. If the police force works to bring down the crime rate and ensure criminals are punished, fewer people would resort to committing crimes, he said.

In his welcome address Ish Kumar, Director, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said that finger prints are used as unique identity in many countries for solving crimes. He said the NCRB, which is a repository of crime records, needs to expand its data base very soon.

Mahender Reddy, DGP, Telangana on this occasion said that 868 undetected cases in the state have been solved using the automated finger prints identification system.

The MoS Home gave away Aziz-ul-Haq trophy to finger print experts who excelled in the All India Board Exam. He also released two books titled ‘Compendium of Finger Print equipment – 2018’ and ‘Award of excellence in identification’.

The two-day conference being organised in Hyderabad for the first time would deliberate on finger print identification systems and modernisation of state finger print bureaux among other issues.