Demarcating roles, merging units help Delhi Police streamline force

Delhi Police commissioner said the force will have a separate unit to handle drone technology in two-three years.

Structural reforms undertaken last year by the Delhi Police, such as merging police control room (PCR) unit with police stations and separation of law and order duties from investigation, led to reduction in response time of distress calls from 7.5 minutes to 4.3 minutes, in addition to reducing the workload of investigating officers (IO), said Delhi Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana on Thursday.

Asthana said that a total of 5,983 police personnel and 790 vehicles from the PCR unit were transferred to police stations after the merger of PCR unit with police stations. (PTI)

Addressing the media during the annual press conference, Asthana said the police force is also equipping itself with drone technology, adding that it will be a separate unit in two-three years. “Drones are a very important area, this technology will be used by Delhi Police in future. Drone technology will be used to handle law and order, for situational awareness, for traffic management and to secure vulnerable installations. Be it for surveillance, traffic management or photography, drones are going to be the order of the day in future,” said the police chief.

He noted that a total of 5,983 police personnel and 790 vehicles from the PCR unit were transferred to police stations after the merger of PCR unit with police stations.

Apart from reducing the response time, it has also led to “improved and more intensive patrolling” and enhanced ground presence of the police staff, said Asthana.

The move has also increased human resources at police stations -- it has increased from 21,672 personnel prior to the merger to 28,053 police officials at over 200 police stations in the Capital.

Similarly, the separation of law and order duties from investigations has increased the number of IOs in police stations from 4,474 to 6,027, shows the data presented by Asthana in the conference.

The step to separate law and order duties -- like for security for events, handling protests, etc -- from investigation was taken to reduce the workload of IOs, increase their efficiency, and ensure better quality of investigation that ultimately leads to higher conviction rate, said officials.

Under the move, one of the three inspectors posted in each police station was made in-charge of the investigating wing of the police station, even as probes are carried out under the overall supervision of the station house officer.

“Before the separation, on an average, one IO was handling 37 cases, 69 complaints and 13 inquests. This number has now come to 29, 57 and 10 respectively,” said a senior police officer, quoting the police data.

Last year, among the “paradigmatic restructuring” of Delhi Police which saw creation of 14 verticals, the city police added three new divisions -- perception management; technology and project implementation; and public transport safety.

Delhi Police also added a “security battalion” to provide security to VVIPs in another initiative. Around 150 police personnel who wished to join the new unit are being given highly specialised training by the elite entities like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Protection Group (SPG).

Focus on cyber crime

In view of the rising number of cyber crimes, 15 cyber police stations – one in each police district -- were also created in addition to an existing cyber units in the special cell, known as intelligence fusion and strategic operations (IFSO), and the crime branch.

Delhi police had launched “Operation Cyber Prahaar” and a financial fraud helpline 155260 (now 1930) during the second wave of coronavirus, when cyber crooks took advantage of the spurt in demand for oxygen cylinders and other life-saving medicines to cheat people.

Officials said 596 first information reports (FIRs) were registered during April and May last year, following which 61 teams from the crime branch and special cell arrested 291 cheats. The investigators also blocked 583 bank accounts and 1,158 cellphones, freezing ₹1.1 crore before the crooks could move the money. Asthana said the efforts led to a drastic reduction in complaints within two weeks.

The cyber cell also registered 187 cases and arrested 127 people as part of “Operation Masoom (mitigation of adolescent sexually offensive online material)” to deal with pornographic materials on the internet and those involved in uploading them.

Women safety

As part of women safety measures, the city police recently launched 48 “pink booths” across the city. “Pink booths are an attempt to provide a safe complaint redressal mechanism for women and girls without visiting police stations,” said Asthana in the presentation.

The city police have also planned to add 10,000 CCTV cameras to their existing network of 15,215 such cameras under the “Safe City Project”.

Motivating the force

Among the initiatives aimed to benefit the force include an “Open House” system for police personnel to share their grievances directly with the police commissioner. Since its launch, over 1,190 grievances were personally heard by Asthana, said officials.

To enhance motivation and to remove complacency, Delhi police also transferred over 28,000 personnel.

“Emphasising its status of being an equal opportunity employer, a large number of women officers were posted in key field positions such as district DCPs, SDPOs and SHOs. Posting of women SHOs in crime-heavy police stations has broken a major glass ceiling,” Asthana said.

Last year, Delhi police also extended financial assistance of ₹56 crore to 2,323 personnel, and ₹9.55 crore was also granted to 64 families of personnel.

The city police also rendered financial assistance of ₹1.32 crore and ₹6.25 crore as education loan and scholarship to wards of personnel.

Under its “Mission Olympics” programme, a total of 248 children of personnel are being groomed in eight sports, including badminton, football, wrestling, and athletics, among others.

Another initiative for citizens is the launch of self e-FIR registration in cases of theft and burglary. A total of 1,578 such e-FIRs were registered by the victims since the scheme was opened for the public on January 26 this year.