IPS Navdeep Aggarwal built an app that is Outsmarting Crime with AI sixth sense

When the clock strikes 8 PM, police officers preparing for night patrols open this app-not to scroll, but to log into Smart Prahari and receive AI-guided instructions.Smart Prahari is an AI-powered system transforming how night patrols operate in Washim,Maharashtra.

What seems like a simple app can actually predict and prevent crime,redefining precision, accountability and the very essence of patrolling.“Officers begin their shift already knowing which 15 locations require focused attention”

Behind this quiet but powerful revolution is IPS Navdeep Aggarwal, a 2022-batch Maharashtra cadre officer currently serving as ASP Washim, who built the entire system himself using open-source tools and AI platforms - at zero financial cost.

Recognizing for decades, patrols in India operated on gut feeling. Officers followed familiar beats, covered vast stretches, and hoped their presence matched real patterns of crime. FIR data remained buried in files, patrol logs were manual and inconsistent and accountability depended more on trust than proof. The gap between effort and real impact was almost inevitable.

Seeing this, Aggarwal set out to create a system that combined technological intelligence with practical field usability. “Crime doesn't sleep but now,neither does our intelligence.Where criminals once exploited gaps in patrol coverage,Smart Prahari identifies and closes them.”

At its core,Smart Prahari is a crime-prediction engine powered by artificial intelligence.It analyses years of FIR data from five police stations,studying thousands of incidents to identify patterns of timing,geography and severity.Each night, it generates a precise list of hotspots and classifies them into high, moderate and routine risk zones.Officers begin their shift already knowing which 15 locations require focused attention.Each hotspot carries a severity score

 Red(8-10): High-risk,high priorit

 Orange(5-8): Moderate concern

 Yellow(<5): Routine vigilance

Policing has shifted from guesswork to science,what was once reactive is now predictive.

Its most disruptive feature is its accountability model. The app tracks an officer’s GPS location every three seconds and automatically marks a hotspot as visited once the officer comes within 100 metres, eliminating inflated reporting or missed areas. “Where accountability was honor-based, it's now data-based.” Supervisors monitor real-time patrol coverage through cloud dashboards, highlighting completion rates and vulnerable gaps.“By shift's end, supervisors receive comprehensive reports: 15 hotspots assigned, 13 visited, 87% completion rate, 11 kilometers covered. Every claim is GPS-verified, timestamped, and auditable.” he shared .Because of this Deployment becomes sharper making overall decision-making faster.

While the streets of washim may still be dark, policing is now guided by intelligence that never sleeps.More than just an app,Smart Prahari showcases how Indian police is embracing cutting-edge,data-driven solutions proving that world class innovation can be built with homegrown talent.

Built for scalability,IPS Navdeep Aggarwal’s ambitious vision is to take Smart Prahari across Maharashtra,patrolling reimagined for the 21st century.