Noida police to keep a 'digital watch' on you

New SSP wants to optimise use of technology in policing

Amitabh Yash has a great reputation to live up to. He is the slayer of Uttar Pradesh's most dreaded dacoit Dadua while he was posted with UP Special Task Force and an illustrious lineage.


In the driver's seat: Amitabh Yash at his office. Pic/mid day

Yash's father and father-in-law are both IPS officers and feels his new assignment as the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gautam Budh Nagar is one of the "toughest".

"Here the challenges are many and different in nature. We have an altogether different crime situation here. Our geographical location is crucial as we are situated between areas where the crime rate is considerably high. Noida is pocket of wealth and criminals from neighbouring area mostly come here to find easy prey," said Yash.
Yash said he believes in optimum use of technology for maximum policing. Soon the city of Noida will go digital, as Noida Police has asked all the RWA and offices to collect information about each citizen. The database will be used for better policing.

"We have to do something in quick time. It is a statement of intent, as I am not sure how to do this with limited resources. We have to be innovative to carry out our jobs and collect data of residents, tenants, workers, migrants and everybody who lives under our jurisdiction. We need to track everybody even a rickshaw puller. I am involved with these technologies from STF days so we can use them for better policing. We don't have many resources so we need to channalise these."

Soon, the Noida Police will provide traffic updates and related information to the residents through a digital medium. The new SSP is all geared up to make night life more secure in the satellite town. "Normally, we have extra patrolling during day and business hours which put heavy strain on resources but we need to strike a balance to keep the policing during night as effective as it is during daytime.

For this I will make sure police officers concentrate on their work instead of getting busy with clerical and other work," he added.

Amitabh Yash is very excited to work in Noida as he has studied at DPS RK Puram and did his graduation from St. Stephen's as B Sc (Hons) in Chemistry and then moved for IIT Kanpur for doing MA. An avid Beatles fan, Yash loves photography and thus has interest in cameras. He also enjoys horse riding.

Crime, no punishment
From September 2008 to January 2009, 170 major thefts have been reported in Noida. Sectors 62, 53, 10, 33 and 15 have witnessed a string of thefts in the past few years. The annual figure of major thefts rose from 391 in 2007 to 421 in 2008. Residents blame the increasing incidents on inadequate police patrolling.

Federation of Noida Residents' Welfare Association General Secretary Munna Sharma said, "The law and order condition is really grim at the moment. Residents are living in a constant state of fear. Thefts are bound to occur when there is little police protection."