Short Note: Merging NCRB with BPR&D

What is the government rationale behind merging the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) with Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D)? Do their functions overlap or are different?

The Union Government has recently merged the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) which used to act as a principal source of information by the police, criminologists, researchers and media of both India and abroad with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). The rationale given by the Government is that the merging of the two will promote more methodological and research based data collection. The current method of collecting data by the NCRB involves gathering information from the states, which often leads to inaccurate details. On the other hand, the BP&D collects most of the data by commissioning the research work to the private institutes which study crime patterns and other aspects of policing. But if the researchers of both the institutes collaborated with one another it will help them use more accurate methods of data collection.

But this move has not been welcome owing to the fact that the functions of both the institutions are different. Compiling all the functions under one roof may result in overlapping of responsibilities and loss of clarity in functions. The data may often overlap. The functions of the NCRB include collecting data on the crimes under the Indian Penal Code and other criminal statutes, courts, convictions under this etc. and then analyzing them. But the BPR&D collects data on how the police, central paramilitary forces work, problems of manpower in these institutions and the pattern of registration of the crimes. Thus, while one focuses on the figures of the outcome of these institutions, the other focuses in the core working of these institutions which are quite different in nature.