Bangalore: The city police are all set to launch a pilot project to enable its personnel get better use out of information technology (IT) through portable computing devices.

Investigating officers will be equipped with the hand-held Simputer which they can carry to a crime scene or accident spot and enter all details on the spot. The witness accounts and inventory of articles of evidence can also be prepared on the spot and entered into the Simputer.

Once the police officer returns to the police station, the data is transferred into the station's server. As investigation progresses and more witnesses and evidence are found, the details can be fed into the database in the station.

Additional Director General of Police (Computer Wing) Kuchanna Srinivasan said, "This `palmtop' will reduce much of the manual work and will also be more easily retrievable when a case builds up and reaches the trial stage. It will also help the officer prepare a better charge sheet, much faster than the months of work he does now."

The police have asked Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) to make the customised Simputers for them and special software that meets the needs of crime investigation. The hardware and software will be initially tried out by officers attached to select police stations in Bangalore city and district.

"Once we try them out in real life situations and in real time, we will know what modifications are required through feedback from the officers. These can be shared with BEL so that changes and improvements can be made," Mr. Srinivasan said.

This is one part of the project the police have taken up to make more functions of the police IT-enabled. The other components will be preparing software named "Police IT 2000". It will cover many of the functions of the police force such as investigation, filling up case diary, forensic investigation, fingerprint matching and other physical evidence. The "Police IT 2000" is being developed by Wipro Technologies after detailed discussions with senior police officers about the requirements of the police personnel. The project was conceived in 2000 and gathered momentum after central assistance for police modernisation was extended.

"We have made good progress and within the next 18 months the software should be operational. It will be different from the software provided by the National Crime Records Bureau now in use. That lays more emphasis on crime statistics but what we are getting will be more focussed on investigation... computers are not being used much,'' he said.

About the pace of computerisation in the police force, he said, "Every police station in the State has now at least one computer, a printer and a modem. The stations are connected to the district headquarters through a dial-up network and the district headquarters, in turn, are connected to the State headquarters over a dedicated line.''

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