Rated among nation’s top 10, Delhi’s Kirti Nagar police station has seen many firsts

Kirti Nagar police station had figured in the list of 10 best stations tweeted by home minister, Rajnath Singh, on Saturday. Three top police stations in the list were RS Puram Police Station (Coimbatore City), Panjagutta Police Station (Hyderabad) and Gudamba Police Station (Lucknow).

Delhi’s Kirti Nagar police station — ranked 10th best in the country — is the only one in the Capital with its own website that displays a complete list of all its 135 police personnel and their contact numbers. From the station house officer to the junior-most constable, the website displays the name and details of every cop on its roll.

Kirti Nagar Police station is the only one in Delhi with its own website. (HT Photo)

Senior officers said the aim of the initiative is to make people in the west Delhi police station’s jurisdiction area feel that a cop is just a call away.

Kirti Nagar police station had figured in the list of 10 best police stations tweeted by home minister, Rajnath Singh, on Saturday. The survey conducted by Intelligence Bureau through Quality Council of India team identified the police stations after an eight-month exercise. The police stations were evaluated on about 80 parameters involving performance, infrastructure and amenities. The three top police stations in the list were RS Puram Police Station (Coimbatore City), Panjagutta Police Station (Hyderabad) and Gudamba Police Station (Lucknow).

Inspector Anil Sharma, the station in-charge, told HT that he was happy to learn about the news. “It is a proud moment for all of us. The idea is not just to increase competitiveness among police stations but also to improve policing,” he said.

“I credit the team for the recognition. Kirti Nagar was already the best police station in our internal survey. In the past couple of years, the staff has worked to improve all aspects of policing. This includes facilitation of complaint registration, better and welcoming infrastructure and improved conduct dealing with complainants,” said DCP (West) Vijay Kumar. Kumar added that the police station was equally alert in preventing crimes and investigating the ones reported. “Due to this we have seen a decline in the number of cases registered and more cases being solved,” Kumar said.

Last week, Kirti Nagar police station officers started a drive to check tenant verification and booked two landlords for failing to comply. Besides this, a man was booked for encroachment and two burglaries were reported on January 3 and 5.

Apart from nabbing criminals, the station officers have also been using the YUVA programme — a skill development scheme under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana — to help youths in the area. Senior officers said that at least 300 ‘vulnerable youths’ who were jobless were trained and provided employment. Kirti Nagar station is among the five stations where the YUVA programme was started by Delhi Police.

In a first, a job fair for youths was also organised at the police station. “Our beat constables contacted many young men and women who were jobless. We identified those with a clean record and offered to help them find jobs. More than 30 youth were hired by local companies with a verification record by police,” said a senior officer.

Another first for this police station is setting up of an alarm system for elderly residents. As elderly residents living alone often fall victim to crime and violence, the local police have assisted in installation of over 200 alarm bells in Kirti Nagar. “Many a times old people do not have cell phones or the call doesn’t get connected. With these alarm bells in place now, all that they have to do in case of an emergency is to press the switch and alert their neighbour who will in turn inform us. Help at Kirti Nagar is just a call away,” a senior officer said.

Two years ago, the dump yard inside the station premises was cleared to make a badminton court for the personnel. A library was also started with a collection of books on criminal justice. “Our idea was to make it friendly not just for residents but also for police personnel. Any cop should want to work here and give it his or her best,” an officer said.

Residents can also download all forms and register crimes online at the Kirti Nagar police station’s website that is also linked to the parent Delhi police site. Forms such as servant, tenant or police verification can be easily filled and submitted on the website. People can also file missing person reports, find helpline numbers, of report stolen vehicles through the website.