MUMBAI, December 18: Crime detection is poised to enter the age of networking. In January next year, Mumbai police will plug into the Crime and Criminal Information System (CCIS) - a network which will connect state police departments across the country making it possible for them to share information on crimes and criminals.

A brainchild of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the system - estimated to cost around Rs 150 crore - is likely to revolutionize the functioning of police departments. Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) P S Pasricha is quite understandably thrilled: ``The Mumbai police have taken a decision to start the project from January 1, next year.'' Over 605 servers are being installed across the country. While the servers will be located at district places, each one of these will be accessible from 21 different points. The software for this is being provided by the Tata Consultancy Services.

The inter-linking of the states will help in sharing information, maintaining updated dossiers on criminals and monitoring modus operandis of various gangs. Earlier, police used to take weeks to trace the owner of a car stolen in Mumbai and abandoned in Ahmedabad. But after the introduction of CCIS, this would be done in minutes.

However, before logging in the department will have to do lot of leg work. The NCRB has asked all police departments to redesign their documents according to a uniform specimen to facilitate data entry. Though the country has a common Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), every state has a different set of police documents like the first information report (FIR), spot report and arrest report.

The city police personnel are already being trained to use the new system. Senior crime branch officers are attending seminars and orientation workshops at the police club. At the helm of this training programme is the deputy commissioner of police, Economic Offences Wing, Datta Padsalgikar.

``With the gangland sharks shifting their bases from Mumbai to elsewhere and spreading their tentacles to far-flung cities like Bangalore and Delhi, this network will sound a death-knell to their operations,'' hopes a deputy commissioner of police.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.