Delhi police to set up tourist cell, all-women band

Setting up a tourist police cell and an all-women band, effective use of Aadhaar cards, maintaining a data bank of all government employees, converting the Police Training College to the Delhi Police University and preparing digital version of policing with help of professionals are some of the priority areas that the Delhi police will be working on in the near future. In an action taken report sent to the Union home ministry, the Delhi police said that its traffic unit was utilising the services of school and college students to impart education on traffic rules in the city.

The report has been prepared by the Delhi police in wake of a conference of the DGPs and IGs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will complete two years in office on Saturday. According to the report, the police force would not only broaden the scope of joint exercises with the neighbouring states, but would also hold state-level conferences in which chief ministers, home ministers and home secretaries could also participate.

On the concept of the smart police propounded by Mr Modi, the Delhi police said the same was being implemented in letter and spirit. “However, for focused future planning, a committee has been formed that has been tasked to set targets and timelines and a vision document for Delhi 2025.”

The report said that a proposal for creation of the tourist police cell with adequate staff and proper soft skills was being prepared and the same would be submitted for consideration of the competent authority. The cell is likely to have pan-India similarity in uniform.

At present, there is no system of tourist police in Delhi. There are 10 PCR vans that are reportedly deployed round-the-clock in three shifts at various iconic tourist places. The PCR vans had reportedly attended 3,716 SOS calls and guided and assisted 86,624 tourists till April 15. Information regarding emergency helplines has also been displayed in 4,700 taxis operating around the IGI Airport under the “Be Aware Travel Safe” campaign. The police said the same needed to be done at all bus and railway stations.

On policing parameters for grading police stations, the report said the system prevalent in the Rajasthan police was being studied for feasibility and implementation in the city. The city police has an in-house appraisal system through which three best police stations are selected every year. For the future, it is felt desirable to have a web-based survey/ feedback by which citizen ratings will also have a bearing on the grading.”

The report said that the Delhi police was perhaps the only state police other than Karnataka to have its own cyber highway that provides connectivity to all the police stations. It said that the police force was now examining how to use Aadhaar database for smoother functioning.