The blockchain technology or the web 3.0 world has been in the news. Several con artists have been caught duping people and many have become billionaires with the help of cryptocurrencies in no time. But idol wing of Tamil Nadu Police too has adopted this technology to solve cases.
They have thus become the first in the world to use it for internal grievance redressal.
BLOCKCHAIN AND ITS USE
The blockchain technology is an advanced database mechanism that allows transparent information sharing within a network. It helps in maintaining a distributed ledger where nodes are recorded as information. Tamil Nadu police is using this for three different purposes.
Director General of Police, Idol Wing CID K. Jayanth Muraliwhile speaking with Indian Masterminds, said, “We generally faced the issues of complaints not being received by the police or not getting registered or not worked upon. We adopted this advanced technology in which a complaint once registered can’t be deleted or edited by anybody. Hence, action has to be necessarily taken on it.”
“However, it still has an issue. It can’t stop people from filing a false complaint. To check that we first verify the complaint before filing an FIR . All this is done on the blockchain itself and is time stamped. Hence all activities will be recorded in the data base forever,” he added. The information can be accessed at complaints.tnidols.com.
INFORMATS AND GRIEVANCES
Secondly, it also protects informants’ identity. “Smugglers are dangerous and can bump off the informants who need anonymity for such jobs,” he added.
The department has also made system for the informants to submit information regarding the smugglers on the blockchain without revealing their identity. This helps them in keeping the anonymity as well as doing the right job for the police.
It is also helping the police department in redressal of internal grievances of the team members like allowances, posting, promotion etc. Earlier, several of these grievances were ignored or not worked upon. However, with this technology all these grievances will be acknowledged and officer will be accountable for it.
Moreover, the department has also created a simple way of rewarding the informants through upon whose lead a case is solved. The officer said, “We use Soul Bound Token (SBT)/ digital medal or a non -fungible token (NFT) to reward them. These NFTs are digital art of the seized idols. Similarly, through SBTs digital medals are being rewarded to the people.”
Personnel are getting training to open digital wallets where they can store these collectables and can either keep with them or it can also be used to play games. The department was even contacted by Oxford for seeking information on SBTs and its use.
