The Telangana Director General of Police, M. Mahender Reddy, recently launched an online portal to automate the police verification certificate (PVC) and police clearance certificate (PCC) processes, called i-Verify. Central and state government offices, public sector undertakings, and defence establishments that appoint private employees or private persons appointed by the former agencies with their referral letter can apply for the verification certificate. Candidates travelling abroad to study or for employment, business, or immigration can apply for the police clearance certificate online by visiting the government’s official website.
Reddy explained that the tool automates the process of transmission of applications online between the special branch and intelligence units (both verifying agencies). It avoids manual processes and the physical movement of people, applications, or files. It will improve coordination between the two verifying units and reduce the processing time.
A news report quoted Reddy saying, “Click the link for police verification and clearance and follow the instructions given in the user manual and documents submission section before proceeding with [the] payment fee. Agencies or individuals can check the status of the verification process and issue the certificate.
The portal also automates crime and criminal records search across all the States through a photo and data match tool for a fool proof character antecedent verification, which eliminates human errors. A two-tier, wide, and deep criminal record verification system had been initiated, the top police brass said. According to him, the tool also provides convenient online status updates as well as the real-time monitoring of files, which enables higher transparency.
Last month, the state police began testing a drone camera with a mike and siren for use as a first responder to select emergency phone calls. After the successful testing and obtaining permissions from various agencies, the drones will be deployed in the city to assist patrolling teams and the control room staff.
As per a news report, the drone camera has been developed by a Bengaluru-based company. The plan is to deploy the drone from pre-designated spots to the location of the incident, enabling the staff in the police command control room to assess the real situation on the ground and to de-escalate the matter using a siren and the mike mounted on the drone.
The project was taken up by the police after IT and municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) Minister KT Rama Rao had suggested the use of police drones as first responders in November 2020, saying that it would reduce the time to reach the scene of the crime. “We have to stay on that cutting-edge technology to ensure we remain proactive and not reactive,” the minister said at the inauguration of the Public Safety Integrated Operations Centre and Data Centre in Cyberabad Commissionerate premises.
The report said that the initial tests indicated that a drone (with an overall weight of 4-5 kilograms) can perform the first responder duty within a radius of 5 kilometres from the place of deployment. The command control centre staff assign the call’s longitude and latitude to the police drone triggering it to reach the location on autopilot mode. Before the blue colts or patrol mobiles reach the location, control room staff assess the situation by looking at the visuals relayed from the drone camera and initiate the appropriate action.
