New
Delhi. Dec 31. After my regular duty hours I will patrol my area unobstrusively in plainclothes to
keep a check on the illegal activities of anti-social elements.
"I will persuade the concerned authorities to put barbed wire around the park so that
unauthorized encroachment stops."
"I will do a thorough verification of the Chugai population in my bit so
that I know the bad characters and what they are up to."
“I will ask the residents welfare association to employ another chowkidar
for night patrolling so that burglaries decrease." These are just a few of the thousand
suggestions, most of them concrete, which have emanated from the lowest rungs of the Delhi Police
during a unique exercise undertaken by Ms Kiran Bedi, DCP, North district this month. For
the first time in the history of the city police a tough series of test of the over 3000 police
personnel in the north district was held by Ms. Bedi, starting on December 9 and ending on
December 29. The policemen were given 15 days to prepare for what must have been the hardest they
have faced so far. "I came to know how much the constable the head constable, the assistant
sub-inspector (ASI), the sub-inspector (SI) and even the station house officer (SHO) is conversant
with the problems and criminals activities in his area. And the suggestion thrown up by them for
their plan of action for 1988 are really surprising, informed the DCP. This means that given
a chance, all of them can be constructive thinking policemen who can serve the people much better.
When this correspondent witnessed one of the tests at a police station, a
virtual crime graph of the area unfolded in the answers given by the policemen to queries by Ms.
Bedi. One constable rattled off the names of 69 bad characters in his beat, what their activities
are, their past criminal record and how he keeps a watch on them. Another gave details of the past
weeks' crime bulletin for his area and one constable even recited the telephone numbers of all the
banks in his beat. The names of the managers, how long they had been there and how many security
guards were employed by each bank. It was amazing to see the hard work put in by the much maligned
policemen.
Ms. Bedi revealed that this was not the result of just two weeks
preparation but the output of an entire years effort.
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Though she herself does not make any such claims, it is evident that her special emphasis on
involvement of the lowest ranked policemen in the district in every aspect of policing has paid
off. She said that the tests have proved that even the constable, who is in fact the most
important from the public's point of view, can become accountable and responsible if trust
is placed in him. Another beneficial result of the test is that each beat constable knows the
topography of his area like the back of his band. This has been achieved by sustained map-reading,
an exercise which had been the privilege of higher ranks before constable Om Prakash of the Sarai
Rohilla police station in the north district, who gave an excellent demonstration of map reading
said that this was the first time any DCP had allowed his rank to invest so much time in learning
about the detailed topography of his area. " Now I know the accident spots, the areas where
criminals congregate, the schools, hotels, banks, places of religious worship, factories, post
office etc. I will carry a mental map of my area and precious time can be saved in reaching exact
locations.
Ms. Bedi said that the most important benefit of the whole exercise was that
police records are not gathering dust but have been used properly. "I can be sure now that
every beat constable in my district will know the crime prone area in his beat, the exact position
of cases in court, the communally sensitive spots, the unauthorized constructions, the theft prone
buildings, the history of criminals, the ruffians in the area and a host of other relevant
information.
Apart from the 1988 plans prepared by each of the lower ranking policemen in
the district, the SHOs of the 20 police stations have also made detailed plans for the next year
and the possible targets. A wealth of suggestions have emerged for improved policing —settle
landlord tenant disputes through mohalla committees, educate jhuggi dwellers about consumption of
smack and liquor, installation of iron gates and inner lock systems in residential flats to avoid
thefts, installation of fire alarm and smoke detectors in every factory of the area, remove road
encroachments to stop accidents, keep check on neighbourhood criminals set up, police booths
in uncovered areas, increase frequency of police-public meeting etc. All the suggestions are being
studied. |
