Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 4 (IANS): Officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have now been provided with a secure 3G mobile-based communication system to seamlessly report crime and other incidents from hostile conditions.

The Mobile-based Crime and Incident Reporting Platform (MCIRP) allows investigators to send photos, videos, audio and text from scenes of rioting, bomb blasts or other crime sites along with geo-location tagging to a central server.

The platform has been developed by MobME Wireless, a young mobile value added service company from Kerala, with funding support from Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).

"The MCIRP was developed with the support of DSIR and works perfectly for sending information from our officers on the site to a central system in a secure and efficient manner," said Loknath Behera, the NIA inspector general.

He said the NIA officers were constantly on the move for investigations and they needed a secure communication system to interact with a central server to relay information.

Currently, the officers, using walkie-talkies, struggle to communicate the gravity of the situation to the agency or the control room several kilometres away.

"The platform runs on Motorola Defy+ smartphones that are waterproof and scratch-proof, aiding NIA officers to record and transfer images and videos from the scene of incidents such as bomb blasts, even on rainy days or other harsh environments that generally result after a blast," said Sanjay Vijayakumar, chief executive officer, MobME Wireless.

The prototype of the project was first developed based on 2G technology for the Kochi city police for crime and accident reporting.

Based on its success, the platform was scaled up using advanced technology and encompassing 3G to cater to NIA's needs.

"The pre-programmed application will show the time, date and location in the photo, video and audio recordings letting the control room staff visualise and understand the actual scene and coordinate necessary action efficiently," said Behera.

"MCIRP has been customised to our requirements. The rugged phone is water-proof and dust-proof to suit hostile conditions that our officers work in," he said.