Policemen being trained to investigate electronic frauds

KOLHAPUR: The rise in the number of online transactions has once again brought the issue of cybercrime to the fore. Hence, the police officers are being trained to investigate such crimes, informed additional superintendent of police Sohail Sharma on Saturday.
“These types of crimes are new to the police force as well. We are conducting series of training sessions for the officers to get acquainted to different types of crimes and how to investigate these crimes,” he said.
The state government has already taken note of this new form of crime and is spending money on up gradation of cyber labs and police stations of every district.“In Kolhapur district, new software and machines have been installed in the cyber lab to help in detection of cybercrime. The cyber lab is set up in the main building of police headquarters in Kasaba Bawada area of city.”
According to police officials, the state government has sanctioned Rs 50 lakh to upgrade the cyber lab in Kolhapur.
“The online transactions and use of new portals for business transactions through computers or smartphones are new to the people. This may give an opportunity to people involved in cybercrime for cheating people. We agree that police are also not aware of this type of crimes but the situation will change soon. Refresher courses and training sessions to upgrade police force for tackling these crimes have been going on and the situation has improved. We are now taking these types of crimes seriously,” Sharma said.