The former director of CBI K Vijayarama Rao, who has scripted the new manual, said here today that to provide specialised and professional approach to solve serious criminal cases, special `detective police stations', with modern gadgets and facilities, had been suggested at various levels.

Rao, who had been entrusted with the task of updating the AP police manual and suggesting new operational guidelines, said the drafting of the revised manual had been completed and chapter-wise discussions with the government were underway before final approval.Doing away with several outdated provisions in 1959 police manual, modelled on the 1861 Indian Police Act, the updated guidelines were framed with a view to improvethe police functioning and its interface with people by adopting modern investigation tools, Rao said.

``The discussions on the 45 chapter-manual have reached a conclusive stage and implementation might start soon,'' said Rao who had held several senior positions in the State Police during the 30-year long career before taking over as CBI chief.The personnel manning detective police stations would have fixed tenure of five years and full operational freedom to register and investigate crimes of serious nature, Rao said adding that they would be provided with all modern facilities and requisite training.``This will not only reduce the scope for political interference but also help constables concentrate exclusively on serious criminal cases instead of getting bogged down with other routine duties,'' he said.

Another novel feature suggested in the new manual was introduction of `area policing', which is a modified version of conventional beat system, in which a set of constables would be allotted on apermanent basis for an area of 10,000 population.This police team would need to be in constant touch with the locals and voluntary associations to keep itself informed about the movement of criminals and perform both the advisory and enforcement functions, the former CBI chief said.

He said he had also suggested certain organisational changes like creation of zonal inspectors general of police for all the six zones in the State and re-defining the roles senior officers for optimum utilisation of the manpower and improvement in quality of policing.

The idea of providing a fixed tenure for DGP was aimed at reducing political interference, Rao said adding that State government was also agreeable for such an arrangement. Similarly, the DG-CID (in-charge of investigation wing) could also have a similar fixed tenure, he said.The application of information technology and other scientific methods of collection and identification of clues and pursuing investigations was another thrust area in the new manual, Raosaid.

Special training modules and operational guidelines had been incorporated to help police tackle new forms of white-collar crimes and increasingly sophisticated terrorist operations. ``We incorporated all concepts which are relevant and practicable. We need to operationalise the new instructions,'' Rao said.