The Vertical Interaction Course on “The Role of Technology in Crime and Crime Prevention” was being conducted by the Office of Continuing Education and Quality Improvement Programmes (CE & QIP) of IIT Bombay since 2003. This year, the Course was conducted in the month of June 13-17, 2022 at IIT Bombay by the National Center of Excellence in Technology for Internal Security (NCETIS) in partnership with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). Of the 17 nominated officers, 14 IPS Officers participated in the Course.

Prof. Kishore Chatterjee, Head – the Department of Electrical Engineering welcomed the participants attending the course. In his inaugural speech, Prof. Chatterjee gave a brief overview of the initiatives undertaken at NCETIS. Due to the unavailability of Prof. Siddhartha Gosh, Dean (Educational Outreach) & Professor-In-Charge, CE & QIP – IIT Bombay, Mr. Kiran Shesh, Consultant at CEP – IIT Bombay once again welcomed the attendees and explained concisely the activities of CEP to the participants present. At the finality of the inauguration ceremony, Prof. Milind Atrey, Dean (R&D) – at IIT Bombay presented an overview of research and development activities and ongoing projects across various departments inside IIT Bombay.

After the inaugural function, lectures were delivered across five days by various faculty members from IIT Bombay as well as distinguished speakers from the field of Security and Defence. Faculty from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Chemistry, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR), Biosciences & Bioengineering, and Electrical Engineering gave informative lectures on relevant subjects as per the program mentioned in the course schedule. A few lectures by eminent personalities from Policing agencies, Forensic Sciences, Defence Industry, and Psychiatry were also included in the program. These lectures were on a)- “Counter Terrorism: Capacity Building for State Police Forces” by Dr. Sadanand Date, Commissioner of Police Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar, Maharashtra, b)- “Recent Trends in Forensic Science” by Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Forensic Science, Government Institute of Forensic Science, Aurangabad, c)- “Police 2030: Next Generation Policing” by Mr. Nandkumar Saravade, Former IPS Officer, d)- “Stress, Conflict Management & Countering Suicidal Tendencies in Police Forces” by Dr. Kersi Chavda, Consultant Psychiatrist- P D Hinduja Health and Reliance Foundation Hospital, e)- “Strategic Management of Internal Security” by Dr. R. Muralidharan, CTO, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. and f)- “Drone Technologies” by Mr. Rahul Singh, Co-Founder and VP-Engineering, ideaForge Technology Pvt. Ltd. All the lectures presented were well appreciated by the participants.

As part of the course, the participants also visited the Defence Factory of Larsen and Toubro at Talegaon. The visit was a one-day trip to the facility that included a comprehensive presentation by the L&T team on their developed technologies and a visit to their assembling plant to get a ground-level understanding of the complexities related to the assembly of defence equipment and technologies. The visit was concluded with a round table discussion between the managing team and the visiting attendees.

On the concluding day of the programme, a valedictory function was held in the afternoon, after completing the last-day lectures. During the session, the participants were encouraged to give their feedback on the course. Everyone appreciated the well-rounded lectures delivered by the speakers. Some of the participants expressed a desire that the programme should include more relevant case studies and suggested the inclusion of practical aspects in the lectures. Certificates and soft copies of course materials were distributed to all the participants by Prof. B G Fernandes, Professor-In-Charge, NCETIS. Mr. Kiran Shesh, Consultant, CEP-IIT Bombay thanked the speakers and participants for making the programme a grand success. The participants thanked the Co-ordinating team of IIT Bombay and BPR&D for their support and for making the entire course a great learning experience. They further desired and hoped to partake in many more such courses conducted by IIT Bombay in the future as well.