Visakhapatnam police upgrade and relaunch Visitor Management System to keep a close watch on inter-State criminals

Once a tourist enters the hotel and provide his contact details with an identity proof to rent a room, the details will be forwarded to the police through the VMS

To control property offences in the urban limits and to keep a close watch on movement of inter-State criminals, the city police have relaunched the Visitor Management System (VMS). The VMS was launched two years ago, but was stopped due to COVID-19. After a brief void, the city police under the leadership of Police Commissioner Ch. Srikanth have upgraded the web application to an advanced android application with latest features.

Once a tourist/visitor enters the hotel and provide his contact details with an identity proof to rent a room, the details will be forwarded to the police through the VMS. The police would then check if the person has any criminal history by matching the details provided through the VMS with those on the central crime database.

“A number of people come to the city from various parts of the country. It is difficult to detect who has criminal history. But on arrival if he or she checks into a hotel or lodge, the VMS will alert us. Whenever, a crime is committed, the data can be checked,” said Inspector of Crime M. Avatharam.

During September last week, the city police led by ADCP (crimes) D. Gangadharam conducted an awareness programme about the VMS with a large number of hoteliers. The police have explained the advantages of the app in crime detection as well as prevention and sought support from them to make Visakhapatnam a peaceful city.

According to the police, in some cases like wedding functions or events, a person books three or four rooms in a hotel giving his details. Later, people come and stay in the room. The police say that this may be taken as an advantage by some offenders, who can gain entry into hotels and may commit unlawful activities, including cricket betting and prostitution. So the police have asked the hoteliers to ensure the details of every visitor who resides in the room be noted and sent to them. Meanwhile, the police have also given strict instructions to them to keep a watch on minors.

Inspector of Central Crime Station (CCS) Prasad said that in the latest upgradation the city police have made the VMS more user-friendly for the hoteliers. Meanwhile, a face recognition feature is being developed for the application and it would be soon made available. “With this feature, the moment the photograph is uploaded in our search engine, the details will pop up, even if he gives wrong information,” he said.

As per the police, there are around 600 hotels in Visakhapatnam city. Till date, around 500 hotel managements have started to use the app. In this month, the police plan to prevail on the managements of dormitories to use the app.