Biggest Challenge For Delhi Police Is Countering Anonymity

Dipendra Pathak Dec 18, 2017

On present scenario of policing or how it has changed over the years, I would say that policing certainly has changed because a very big factor which has come in recent times is technology. Technology has changed our lives in a big way, particularly the communication technology. The kind of speed which is coming and when technology goes up, then privacy goes down. It has brought an essential element of transparency in the human relationship. And naturally, the web of human relationship has gone for a paradigm shift. The mobile technology, the media interface, the ease of communication, the ease of producing and transmitting flawless shreds of evidence. So, it has brought a change. Policing is all about bringing and maintaining social orderliness. And, for that there is a substantive law and a procedural law with evidence, basically to get to know the truth. So the mechanism to get to know the truth has changed with the technology. The commissioner of police is envisaging the technology in policing in a big way. We are in the process of adopting modern technology in traffic and surveillance. We are in the process of appointing a Chief Technology Officer.

If we discuss the focused crime-criminal aspects, cybercrime is a big-time crime. It is a big reality. IT and communication are already affecting the existing crime-criminal substantive and procedural aspects. It has brought a change. Earlier, it was like any incident happened, it used to take time about even knowing about the incident. It is not so now. Now it becomes viral in no time. If the issue concerned is explosive in nature, then everybody gets hooked to and connects to that incident. And police have to rise to the occasion. That is why I consider it a big paradigm shift in police-governance worldwide, more in Delhi as being the national capital is a sensitive seat of political activities and other things. So, the Delhi Police have to remain on toes in maintaining flawless social orderliness and yet catering to the changing paradigm of technology and its impact on society. That is the change of policing I observe.

The human relationships have also gone for a change, its demands and rising expectations also. There has been economic development but at the same time the juveniles, the demographic composition of Delhi also have gone for a change. Delhi is a very porous area, it has very affluent colonies, people are living in slums nearby and pattern in which they live are different. Delhi has big rural area and a very urban area. It creates a different kind of tension. So population-wise, mindset-wise and value system-wise. Delhi is not monolithic. It poses mammoth task and a big challenge to the Delhi Police.

Now the question is how to deal with it? You see, police have a very focused role. There are social changes taking place. The expectations and obligations are changing. There is a legal set-up and police have to maintain orderliness on instant basis. And we have to act with transparency. We have to act professionally as per law. We have been able to do this and we have been able to maintain a very high degree of social orderliness with professional competence.

The next question is that Delhi police is a friendly police or not? I would say that our focus on community policing is magnanimous. I observed in the last five or ten years, that our focus on community-policing has been enormous, be it, senior citizens, weaker sections of the society, women and children, foreign nationals, or juveniles, for whom there are chances that they will get into the folds of crime. So, weaning them away from crime and trying to bring them into the mainstream of the society. Like “Yuva” program for juveniles. Delhi police are doing very focused and sustained community-policing initiatives. Delhi Police roped in skill development for such youngsters. They are being identified on police station basis and policemen are working extra time to bring them to their good livelihood. The Hon’ble Home Minister has launched this scheme.

Women safety and their security are one of our top priority. For this, ‘Shashakti’ scheme, which is a self-defence training. We are aware of gender-sensitization i.e. handling of women related cases by policemen; Setting-up the 24-hour women help desk in police stations. We have issued instructions that slightest of complaints from women must be addressed seriously. We have dedicated helplines, technology like “Himmat’ app. These steps paid dividends and the number of cases has come down in comparison to the previous year.

Similarly the “Prahari’ scheme, that is involving the people, involving the security guards and other people, who were there on night duty. ‘Neighborhood Watch Scheme’, ‘Police Mitra’ Scheme, which is the brainchild of hon’ble prime minister of India. All these efforts are there to improve reaching people and people are coming to police for making their city safe. So Delhi Police are miles ahead involving the community at large and in the interest of security and safety of the city. So the Delhi police are friendly to the citizens.

The fundamental philosophy is that police has to be tough on mischief-mongers, to bring them before the law and to instil confidence among law-abiding citizens. The mischief-monger has to be handled with tough hands of the law. That is also the fundamental job of the police. At the same time, police have to be polite to the law-abiding citizens. That is the philosophy and motto, we are following. It helps in maintaining social orderliness. If you make a comparison, Delhi police have become professionally competent. We have a high-degree of competence in differentiating between law-abiding citizens and mischief-mongers and in handling them as per the requirement and per the law, as compare to the previous decades.

Anti-terror preparedness is also a high-priority area. Delhi police are maintaining a consistent coordination with the sister agencies. The special cell is working very professionally and ‘SWAT’ is there. Commissioner of police has launched ‘Prakarma’ vans with full preparedness, with modern weapons of high fire-power by the commandoes at 24 points. We have a very robust system to tackle with the terror-threat.

One of the biggest challenges for Delhi Police in this metro city is countering anonymity. People come from different areas, people are busy, they do not know each other. It helps criminals to camouflage in areas. To counter the anonymity, we have Eyes and Ear scheme, Servant Verification scheme, Tenant verification scheme and Jan Sampark. We want to create a spark of relationship, a community relationship. Where outsiders could be identified and questioned. We are seeking co-operation from the citizens through meetings, by social media and by advertisements. The commissioner of police introduced a logo and slogan as ‘Help us serve you better’.