Cyber labs to be set up in 5 districts

Visakhapatnam: Director General of Police RP Thakur inaugurated Cyber Forensic Lab and Cybercrime Police Station (CCPS) at VUDA Office Building, Siripuram area here on Friday.

The new CCPS with the state-of-the-art technology consisting of one inspector, three sub-inspectors, one head constable, 12 constables and one home-guard. The police will also create awareness among the citizens about new trends in the virtual frauds and how to prevent cybercrimes,” he informed.

Though CCPS was sanctioned in 2015 in Visakhapatnam, it was delayed for various reasons, including fund crunch. The Cyber Forensic Lab will be useful to deal with the sensitive cases like identity theft, software privacy and network intrusion and a few others.

Now, the victims of cybercrimes in the district can now lodge their complaints with the dedicated CCPS in the city without having to visit the local stations in the limits of city Police Commissionerate.

Addressing the media, DGP RP Thakur said that it was the second such station in the state and the state’s first CCPS came up in Vijayawada. “Apart from cyber stations, we are developing cyber labs across the state that will help local police deal with cybercrimes and to create awareness on cybercrimes among the people, he added.

The labs will be established at state police headquarters, Anantapur, Kurnool, Rajahmahendravaram, Tirupati and Vizianagaram in three months, he said. As the cyber fraudsters are coming up with new modes to dupe the netizens, the police in the state are also equipping in terms of manpower and technology to deal with them, Thakur said.

The virtual frauds have been increasing in the state by 20 per cent every year. With internet and social media becoming a way of life, the number of cybercrimes has been increasing in the city, while the cybercrimes increased to 581 in 2017 from 442 in 2016 and so far over 400 cybercrimes were reported in Visakhapatnam city in 2018, said Thakur.