New Delhi, Nov. 3: Law enforcing agencies are proposed to have a data bank of all crimes taking place in the country and of the criminals who have committed them.

The crime and the criminal will have a unique identification number so that they can be tracked by any police station.

Floated by the secretary-general of Ficci, the business lobby, Amit Mitra, the idea found many takers, among them home minister Shivraj Patil and senior officials of his ministry.

It was discussed at the first combined meeting of the empowered steering group and executive committee members of the National Police Mission.

According to a participant, some members raised doubts about the inability to complete such a huge task, but they were later convinced about both the possibility and efficacy of such a system, using cutting-edge technology.

The meeting was held to discuss ideas in relation to the purpose and role of the mission, which was suggested by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a year ago at a conference of the heads of police of all states and paramilitary forces.

Singh had spoken of the need to transform the police into effective instruments for maintenance of internal security and to promote a culture of excellence.

The mission was to give the force a new vision to help them meet the challenges and expectations of modern society.

At today’s session, representatives from academia and management such as the director of IIM Bangalore, Prakash G. Apte, talked about separating investigation from law and order, providing better infrastructure to police stations and increasing the pay and allowances of the constable, the most important member of the force.

Based on the inputs received from various experts, a paper with the formal structure, goals, objectives and methodology of the mission will now be framed for the government’s consideration.

The home ministry has formed a steering group to identify the goals and role of the mission as well as delineate a roadmap and set milestones.

The executive committee will work out the details of the implementation methodology.

Under the mission, there will be seven smaller ones to examine infrastructure, community policing, communication, IT, methodology of investigation and future problems likely to be faced by the police.

The home secretary, national security adviser, director of the Intelligence Bureau, director-general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, scientific adviser to defence minister, director-general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, CBI director and the directors-general of the CRPF and of the police forces of several states attended the meeting.