After new criminal laws, state forensics, CID to hire experts, fill vacant posts
Times of India | 17 July 2024
Kolkata: The state govt is in the process of recruiting scientific officers as well as scientific and lab assistants for the state forensic sciences laboratory, which has been running with merely 50% staff strength.
The state forensic sciences lab currently has 35 officers across the state, though the team needs at least 30 more officers.
Officials said the state public service commission would soon recruit officers and assistants to fill the vacancies at the city and district levels and fresh posts would also be sanctioned to meet the higher demand for forensics during investigations under the new criminal laws, which came into effect from July 1.The new law provides for mandatory forensic examinations of crime scenes and evidence for offences punishable with imprisonment of seven years and more.
“There are over 50% vacancies at the forensic assistant and lab assistant level. We have informed the state about the current situation and the public service commission will undertake exams soon for the vacant posts. Many more posts have to be sanctioned to properly handle the cases under the new crime laws, which require more officers on the field to visit scenes of crime and collect samples,” said a senior IPS officer.
The state CID has also advertised for nine different posts of cyber forensics experts (CFEs) and crypto analysts, who will have expertise in their own domains, but no background in traditional policing. These would be contractual posts, said a CID officer, adding that the agency was ready to offer a remuneration matching the best in the industry, with MCAs, BE (electronics, electrical or computer science) with one-three years of experience commanding Rs 1.5 lakh a month.
Perhaps realizing the mindset of the young generation, even the job advertisements have been put out on CID’s website for everyone to see. All applications will be entertained till Aug 10, said sources. “We are also looking to hire cloud forensic experts, crypto analysts, disk forensic experts, mobile forensic experts, network forensic experts and malware forensic experts,” said a senior officer.
Among the desired qualifications, besides the degrees, are industry certifications, like GNFA, Network + CCNA etc, and previous experience of handling tools like Falcon, TXI and FTK. These experts, besides detecting cybercrime—a major task of controlling the threat of inflammatory posts, pictures and videos that can spark communal tensions—will help the state agency gather e-evidence that can be produced in court. “Initially, we had no provision for a crypto expert. But with money being parked through this route by cyber criminals, the need for an expert has quickly been felt,” said an officer.