Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently announced that each of the Cybercrime, Economic offences, Narcotics (CEN) police stations, which are at the forefront of fighting cybercrimes in the city, will henceforth be headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police. While this was welcomed as “strengthening cybercrime investigations”, a reality check at these stations reveals they are woefully understaffed.
There are eight CEN stations in the city, one each in every police division, and each of these stations booked at least over a thousand cybercrime cases in 2023. This is after the city police began to register cybercrime cases in law and order police stations as well, reducing the caseload at CEN stations. However, on average, each of these CEN stations has just around 20 personnel.
