Smart policing

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's directives to the Officers-in-Charge (OCs) of the Police stations in the State have laid down his vision to transform the Assam Police into a professional, smart, and people-friendly force. A set of structural and administrative reforms must follow to see the tangible outcomes in respect of all these directives enunciating various tasks for the OCs at the police station level. The directives are aimed at putting in place a robust system for improving the day-to-day policing towards preventing piling up of cases at police stations of the State for want of timely action. The Chief Minister emphasised on expeditious investigation and filing of chargesheets, issuing of post-mortem reports, police verification reports for government jobs and passports. Expediting filing of chargesheets in cases registered by police is an integral part of the criminal justice-delivery system and any delay on the part of police results in the delay in justice delivery. In many cases, the accused get bails due to the failure on the part of the police to file charge sheet within the mandatory period of 90 days with respect to cases which involves offences punishable with death sentences, imprisonment for life or for a term not less than 10 years. Enlargement of hardened criminals on bail due to delay in filing charge sheet within the mandatory period gives birth to repeated offenders who indulges in serial crimes. Reports of forensic examinations of samples collected from crime scenes must be made available without delay to enable the Investigating Officers file the charge sheets in time.

The directive to send forensic samples to forensic laboratories outside Assam will help reduce pendency but having more laboratories in the State will ensure the desired pace. Expediting the decision of the State cabinet to open four more forensic laboratories and strengthening the lone functional forensic laboratory is important to ensure that the directive issued by the Chief Minister produce actionable results and reduce pendency of cases. Transport plays the crucial role of providing mobility to police to reach the crime scene in time and start investigation without much delay besides, regular patrolling to keep the criminals at bay. Statistics of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) show that Assam Police have the lowest transport facility personnel of 1.74 vehicles per 100 police personnel against national average of 9.70 vehicles per 100 police personnel. The announcement by the Chief Minister that the OCs will be provided one vehicle each besides motorcycles for police stations in the remote areas assumes special significance given the poor mobility of the force as revealed in the BPRD report. As police station is the first point of contact for citizens to seek protection of law from any criminal act, the physical space of a police station plays critical role creating the first impression of a police force. The Mission for Overall Improvement of Thana for Responsive Image (MOITRI) was launched in the State in 2016 during the tenure of the previous government. Under the MOITRI scheme, so far 55 of the State's 344 sanctioned police stations have been reconstructed over the past five years. Each of these reconstructed police stations has separate women and children cell, separate counselling room for drug addicts and juveniles, specially designed toilets for differently abled citizens besides citizen-friendly reception arena, cyber room, and workstations. The remaining police stations will also have to be reconstructed to ensure that no police station lacks in basic amenities envisaged in the mission to take the police force closer to people. The Chief Minister's instruction to the OCs to deal strictly with crime against women has sent a clear message to the entire police force to become pro-active to curb rising crimes against women including rape and other sexual assaults. More recruitment of women police personnel from higher ranks down to the police station level will boost confidence among women and girl victims to come forward and lodge FIRs (First Information Reports). Assam Police has less than 6,000 women police personnel against total available strength of around 76,000 police personnel and increasing women's strength in the force will go a long way in transforming it to a modern and professional force in the true sense of the term. Existing women officials and police personnel have demonstrated their capabilities which can be showcased to attract many more energetic women to join and lead the force. The Chief Minister's clear instruction that OCs will have two-year tenure in one police station and posting in the next police station is to be decided only by the Superintendents of Police concerned or by the Director General Police is a strong message against any kind political interference in transfer and posting in the police force. A police force can deliver as a professional force only when its command system from the police chief down to the police station remains free from political interference. Assam can become crime-free if Assam Police is transformed into a smart police force.