Constable Pratibha Eknath Shinde while working at her desk in the CCTNS section at Nashik Rural Police headquarters today. (Picture: The Voice of Malegaon).
In 2015, the Government of India started CCTNS or Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems gateway with the sole purpose of aggregating all the data related to criminals and their activities at one place in a digital form. Since its inception, the CCTNS has been serving as a one-stop shop for law enforcement agencies across the country. Every month, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) evaluates performance of 53 police units or groups using CCTNS interface in the state by looking at certain parameters such as the time taken in uploading of case details etc.
The Nashik Rural Police in the words of Superintendent of Police IPS Shahaji Umap merely a year ago was “lagging behind” in terms of performance of the police unit’s CCTNS branch. However, Umap says the force has turned its fortunes around by working at the grassroots level. In a telephonic conversation with the Founder and Editor-In-chief Ashfaque Ismail, Umap reveals how the force managed to replace Rank 40th with the Rank 1st within a few months. Excerpts;
Q: It seems to have been a remarkable turnaround! From the 40th rank in 2022 to the rank No 1 in July 2023, how the force managed to achieve such an astounding feat in just a few months’ time?
Ans: First of all let me tell you that we have bagged the Rank No 1 second time in a row. First it was in the month of July this year and then again in August month’s appraisal by the Crime Investigation Department (CID). Now coming to the point you have raised. Despite having a capable workforce and a separate CCTNS unit, we had been lagging behind in terms of performance of the CCTNS branch.
In 2022, our rank with respect to other police units in the state kept oscillating between 30th and 40th position. In the beginning, even we were clueless as to how we were putting up such a poor show! As we moved ahead, we realised that we ought to take corrective steps. At this point of time we started to hold talks with the staff concerned. In just a few weeks’ time, our force got to pinpoint at the real reason.
(From top left) Additional SP Madhuri Kedar-Kangane, IPS Shahaji Umap, PI Satyajit Amale (incharge of CCTNS) and Additional SP Aniket Bharati. (In the row below) constables Kavita Bhor, Jyoti Ahire, Seema Ugalmugale, and Pratibha Shinde with Certificates of Appreciation. All the four women police officers are serving at the CCTNS unit.
Q: So why the situation had been so? I mean why was the force lagging behind its peers in terms of performance of the CCTNS unit?
Ans: As we were not keeping up to the mark, we started deliberations with the CCTNS staff. We also involved in the talks the staff at other police units in our jurisdiction. There are eight Sub-Divisions and forty police stations in Nashik rural area. We engaged every stakeholder in the talks aiming at improving on the performance of the CCTNS unit.
During one such deliberation, the staff at the CCTNS unit gave us the feedback that the real problem was lurking at police stations. The root cause, it was revealed, was that for some reason or the other the staff at various police stations were not keeping up with the pace of work that the CCTNS project required. And this was happening partly due to the lack of knowledge about the CCTNS interface and its functioning on the policemen’s part.
Q: So how you reacted to this revealing feedback from the CCTNS staff? What strategy you then adopted to fill this lacunae and surge ahead of peers?
Ans: I was coming to that point only. At this point of time we thought we should start imparting proper training to the police officers associated with the CCTNS working. We picked up 10-12 policemen from each division and started giving them training at the police headquarters. Though I was personally not involved in the actual training sessions, I made it sure that I did not fail to take feedback from the trainees at the end of every session.
I would call them in my office and one by one ask them about their views and experiences. I would also ask them what kind of problem they had been facing while working in the CCTNS portal. This practice helped us the most in finding a solution to the problem that we had been staring at. So, to tell you, we worked hard at the police station level to bag the number one rank for the outstanding performance by our all-women CCTNS unit.
