World Focus: Racist crime soars in UK

London – Feb.7 – Since the September 11 attacks in 2001, friction increased between UK’s diverse communities.  Muslims say they have sensed increased hostility on the streets since Britain signed up to the US-led “war on terror”, with police raids netting dozens of alleged Islamic militants.  Police passed 3,728 cases of racially motivated crime to public prosecutors in the year to April 2002, up 20% on the preceding year.  London is fast becoming the world’s most racially diverse city with over 300 languages spoken, compared to 120 in the original melting pot city New York, according to the Mayor’s race advisor Lee Jasper.  The latest government figures show that the largely Muslim Pakistani community is almost twice as vulnerable to race hate crime as the black community.  “A society where its citizens have no confidence in the delivery of justice cannot be regarded as true democratic,” Britain’s top judge Lord Goldsmith said in a statement.  Racial tensions have been stoked in Britain both by the far right and by a number of extremist Muslim preachers.

The Statesman – Feb 8, 2003.

GPS on buses will help alert cops

New Delhi – Feb.10 – The DTC  is busy installing an Automatic Vehicle Tracking System (AVTS) on the Global Positioning System (GPS) connected to a satellite in all its buses, which has been jointly developed by DTC, Computer Maintenance Corporation and the IT ministry at a cost of Rupees 8.34 crore.  The AVTS has already been installed in nearly 100 buses which enables DTC to locate each and every bus on digital map at its Indraprastha Depot Control Room.  The driver has a small Vehicle Monitoring Unit beside the steering wheel, the size of large calculator.  In case of an emergency like a flat tyre, CNG leak or even a mechanical breakdown, the driver can press one of the buttons on the unit to get the Control Room’s attention.  Soon, a similar system will be connected with the Police Control Room, ambulance service and even the fire department.  The map at IP Depot has the bus stops marked on it with coloured dots.  If a bus does not halt at a stop, the Control Room gets to know.  The system alerts the Control Room even when a bus overspeeds.  By March, 2004, the system will be installed in all 3000 of DTCs buses.

Hindustan Times – Feb.11, 2003

Crime Atlas to help police track down criminals – will record all details vital to safety and security.  

Kolkata – Feb.23 – The ‘crime atlas’ being compiled by Chennai-based WTI Advanced Technology Ltd., in association with the National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation and police bodies, would be ready in a few more months. The atlas would record highway robberies, vehicle thefts, suburban crimes, murders and serial crimes in the form of maps and not the conventional tables or pie diagrams to serve the police forces of the country.  The atlas has the potential to identify  vulnerable crime prone spots.  It will help the police crack many hitherto unnoticed crimes, Mr. O.M. Murali of WTI said.

The Asian Age – Feb.24, 2003. 

Chip to check shoplifters

In Tesco’s Newmarket Road store in Cambridge, England, a “smart shelf” continuously queries tiny radio chips embedded in the packages it holds, and senses the silence when one is removed.  The system may soon be programmed to alert security when several are taken at once, Greg Sage, a Tesco spokesman, said.  The companies are tagging clothes, drugs, auto parts, copy machines and even mail with chips laden with information about content, origin and destination.  They are also equipping shelves, doors and walls with sensors that can record that data when the products are near.  “We want to track all of our merchandise, and that includes items that people are unlikely to steal,” William C. Wertz, a spokesman for al-Mart Stores, said. 

Times of India – Feb.27, 2003.

CBI Net spreads to nine countries

New Delhi – Feb.27, 2003- The Central Bureau of Investigation, Govt. of India, is setting up an online network with nine Asian countries for sharing information on cyber crime technologies used by criminals as well as upgradation of the present technologies to fight cyber crime, which is scheduled to become operational “within a month”.  The online network will help CBI’s  Cyber Crime Investigation Cell get connected to the “Cyber Crime Technology Information Network System,”  which has been initiated by the National Police Agency of Japan.  Other members of the network include China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Japan.  “Each member country of the CCTINS is connected with each other through an advanced network called the “Virtual Private Network.”   The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC), which started functioning from March 2000, is a notified contact point of Interpol for reporting cyber crimes committed in India.  “We have an elaborate plan to launch an extensive net patrolling for identification of criminals operating  through the Internet.  With help from CTTINS we are also gearing up to tackle cases of hacking and online frauds having national and international ramifications,” the CBI officer said.

The Statesman – Feb.28, 2003.