In a bid to prevent any kind of encroachment on the land allotted to the state police department by the government, Andhra Pradesh Police has started developing a land database.

According to a senior police official, the move is aimed at securing the land and efforts are underway to prepare fresh sketches by verifying maps and revenue records.

"We are preparing a database of police land. The process has begun and the objective is to safeguard the government/ police land from encroachment," Additional Director General of Police (Provisions and Logistics) T Krishna Prasad said.

According to him, fresh sketches of the extent of land are being prepared and Superintendent of Police (SP) of different districts are sending data to the Provisions and Logistics office here, which will henceforth maintain soft copies of the records that will soon be uploaded on the central server of the police department, the official added.

"The process is to create an update on the extent of police land. SPs of different districts are sending the land data...we are in the midst of preparing the soft copies of the land records as in at many places the records, which are on old papers, are torn out," Prasad said.

This exercise will help the department in getting exact knowledge of the availability of land and enable its proper maintenance by fencing and constructing boundary walls around the land, he said.

Whenever the department seeks to construct quarters, guest houses for police personnel or even for other welfare purposes, it can access the readily available records, he added.

The police land, believed to be in several hundreds of acres, are spread around the police stations, police quarters, parade grounds and battalions in the state and at some places the land has been encroached upon.