In a fast-changing world, police performance will be judged not by the number of tech-based applications launched, but by the number of crimes that do not take place

In the 1990s, when I first walked into a police station as a trainee IPS officer, policing was largely a race to catch up with crime. The tools were modest: a handwritten ‘Rojnamcha’, a temperamental black rotary-dial telephone, and the institutional memory of the MHC and beat constable. Success was measured by how quickly the police reached the scene, arrested the accused and restored order.

Three decades later, that paradigm is changing fundamentally. Technology, data and intelligence are enabling the police to move from reacting to crime to anticipating and preventing it. The critical question is no longer merely, “What happened?” but “What is likely to happen - and what can we do before it does?”

This is the essence of new-age policing: using technology not as an end in itself, but as an instrument to prevent crime, accelerate justice, protect the vulnerable and make policing more accessible, accountable and humane. In Haryana, this transformation is already visible - from Dial 112 and women’s safety initiatives to cybercrime intervention, AI-assisted investigation, digital evidence and real-time intelligence. Based on more than five million calls each year, the average response time stays below seven minutes, whether in cities or the countryside. Motorbikes can navigate market streets where four-wheelers would get stuck.

When a woman is in danger, she presses one button on the Durga Shakti app, and her current location is sent to the same command centre.........

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