Mumbai : Mumbai Police inducted a new 'cyber-sidekick' into their ranks on Monday. An automated, multi-modal, biometric identification system, 'AMBIS', was inaugurated by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the police commissioner's office, Crawford Market.
This ambitious system, said to be the first of its kind in the country, has been started on a pilot basis in Mumbai. ‘AMBIS’ will collect and store the demographic and biometric data of criminals, including finger and palm prints, iris and face recognition.
This databank will come in handy by quickly providing information about criminals and thus help increase the rate of conviction. In this integrated system, the physical copies of over 6.5 lakh old fingerprints have been scanned and stored digitally. This facility will be eventually made available to 1,160 police stations across the state, with 2,600 police personnel being trained in its use. Fadnavis termed AMBIS as the 'Google' of Maharashtra Police, which will help crack cases as it holds all criminal records.
“With the help of modern technology like CCTVs, CCTNS and AMBIS at their disposal, police will be able to keep the city safe and detect serious crimes effectively," the CM said, adding that AMBIS would be rolled out across the state in the next few days. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) is a government project for creating a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing through e-governance. Special IGP of Maharashtra (Cyber) Brijesh Singh said that AMBIS is the first system in the country which will provide exhaustive information on criminals.
“The system is being implemented in 94 police stations in Mumbai as a pilot project. Over 200 police personnel of Mumbai Police have been trained in handling this system,” he said.
At the same event, police also unveiled the ‘Litter-Free Mumbai’ drive in coordination with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
“As part of this campaign, around 750 officials of the BMC will work as additional police officers and have power to penalise those who flout cleanliness rules,” said Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve. He reasoned that crime would diminish if the city remains clean.
