Portrait parle: Cops to use software to train officers

The Kolkata Police has planned to provide training to its investigating officers (IOs) on making portrait parle using computer software.

The move will ensure fast initiation of a probe as trained police personnel can prepare a portrait despite of not having expertise like a painter.

Satyajit Bandopadhyay, joint commissioner of police (armed police) who is in-charge of training of the rank and file, said: “We have planned to provide the training to the officers in sub-inspector and inspector ranks. The final decision would be taken in this regard in the next month and the training programme may also commence in November.”

It may be mentioned that the Scientific Wing of the Kolkata Police’s Detective Department is comprised of expert painters who had been preparing portrait parle of a person by listening to his or her description.

But, with the passage of time, the city police have also planned to introduce the modern technique of preparing portrait parle. The introduction of the new techniques would help in preparing the same at lesser time and the accuracy level is also expected to go up.

The training cannot be provided to more than 20 to 22 police personnel at a time. Thus, two police officers would be selected on the basis of certain parameters from each of the eight divisions of the Kolkata Police and the Detective Department as the first batch of the trainees. More police officers will get trained if the applicability of the technique of preparing portrait parle using computer is found to be really useful after the training of the set of officers to undertake the training in the first batch.

The reason behind deciding to bring sub-inspectors and inspectors under the purview of the training first as they investigate into the major crimes that take place in the city. The assistant sub-inspectors also undertake investigation but not of petty cases. Thus, they would get trained later.

The Kolkata Police have come across a person, who had prepared the software of preparing the portrait parle and the senior police officers were also told that how it had helped in preparing portrait parle of the accused of certain important cases. The same person would be providing the training to the policemen.

In a bid to prepare portrait parle using the software, a police officer does not have to be an expert in painting. Anyone can prepare a portrait parle using it after he or she is properly trained. In the training programme, the officers will be told about the factors that they must know to operate the software and they will be told about the required fields that they have to key in to get output with maximum accuracy level.

It is learnt that the Scientific Wing of the city police’s detective department would continue functioning normally. But the training to the police officers would give an additional advantage to Kolkata Police by keeping it a step ahead. “The move would make the task easier as there would be portrait parle experts in every division of the Kolkata Police. It can be prepared without wasting much time and a probe will start move to the right direction within a short time after a crime is committed,” said a sub-inspector.