Bangaluru manages law and order with FIR kiosk

Increasing mobility and connectivity is not only changing consumer habits or enterprise processes, but it is significantly impacting everything around us. Now even the government departments are recognizing the increasing benefits of emerging technologies to better serve the people
- Preeti Gaur
Digitalization is transforming industries and processes of all sectors of the economy. Banagaluru Police has taken one such initiative to provide a kiosk for remote filing of FIRs. In order to enable citizens to register cases freely and provide the police department a realistic view of the crime rates in the city, the Bangaluru Police in a first ever-live deployment in India launched a Remote Expert Government Services’ (REGS) to help citizens file a First Information Report (FIR) remotely, irrespective of the location of the jurisdiction where the offence has occurred in the city. India’s first Remote Expert Government Services’ Police FIR kiosk will allow law enforcement formalities to be carried out from a remote location.
Equipped with Cisco TelePresence system with HD video and high-quality audio, a touch screen display with a virtual keyboard, the kiosk allows citizens to launch a live collaboration session with a designated police officer based at the Traffic Management Centre - the technology nerve center of Bengaluru traffic police. The complainant can sign, print and scan documents virtually as part of the experience. They will also get an opportunity to review the complaint with an expert, thus ensuring that the FIR filed is error free. Once the FIR is filed, the citizen will receive a printed copy of the FIR as an instant acknowledgement.
The Kiosk is accessible 24x7, from which citizens may interact face-to-face with a remote investigation officer to expedite the entire process of filing an FIR. This kiosk serves as the central location for FIRs related to 105 law & order police stations and 42 traffic police stations of the city. A citizen need not necessarily visit the police stations to lodge an FIR. Through this kiosk, citizens of Bengaluru, including ladies and youngsters will be able to register cases freely without any hesitation. It will also provide BCP a more realistic view of the crime rates in the city.
Filing the FIR remotely irrespective of the jurisdiction where the crime has occurred showcases how technology can transform the lives of citizens by delivering optimized administration, an efficient law & order system, improved quality of life for citizens and greater economic, social and environmental sustainability. “This initiative will help in our efforts to build strong and sustainable police-citizen relations. It will encourage people to report crime and real time reporting will help police take swift action. Based on the feedback from the citizens in Bengaluru, we will evaluate and set up similar kiosks in the other parts of the state,” said Shri Lalrokhuma Pachuau, IPS, Director General & Inspector General of Police, Karnataka State.
BCP has leveraged technology to tackle law and enforcement issues in the city since 2007. Using video survelliance and analytics technology, the rate of fatal accidents have come down by 19% in the last four years (595 in 2014) and the city has witnessed a 30% decrease in total road accidents from 6024 in 2011 to 4191 in 2014, in addition to improving the traffic enforcement and management system in the city.
BTP was the first to introduce the Blackberry based system, e-challan, for traffic violation and also Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The B-TRAC which is a technology driven project for Traffic Management is also first of its kind in the country.
Based upon the success of the solution, the BCP intends to roll out the kiosks in other parts of Bengaluru. Such collaboration between government departments and technology enterprises is an appreciable effort towards building smart cities where technology and applications can be used to enhance the public’s experience and is a great example of public-private partnership to develop new solutions to address some of the city’s greatest challenges.