From patrol surge to anti-corruption push, here are 4 changes Delhi police chief S B K Singh wants to bring about

The meeting held at the Delhi Police headquarters lasted for around two hours.

Here are the four directions issued by Singh to all 15 district DCPs:

1. Increased police visibility

Delhi Police Commissioner Shashi Bhushan Kumar Singh has asked the DCPs to ensure foot patrolling as the top-most policing priority. Maximum police officials should be on foot patrolling from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm every day without exception, he said. “SHOs [Station House Officers] should choose one beat of their police station area daily and do foot patrolling along with the division and beat staff. District DCPs should also visit at least one beat area of a police station and perform with staff,” a senior police officer said, citing Singh’s directions.

In his directions, Singh also said that while on rounds, the concerned district DCPs should interact with the division staff and beat staff, and question them about crimes as well as criminals and history sheeters. “Whenever a beat officer is assessed to be vigilant and aware, he should be rewarded forthwith, and if he does not give a proper reply, he should be given a spot warning,” he reportedly said.

2. Curb on corruption

To curb corruption, there is a need to adopt both institutional mechanisms and non-institutional mechanisms, Singh said. “Institutional mechanism would imply that ACPs of a sub-division should prepare a list of all the investigation officers (IOs) of their concerned sub-divisions and call two-three IOs daily and discuss complaints, inquests, progress of cases and issue written directions to them,” he reportedly said.

Fixing the onus on senior officers, Singh said the joint CPs concerned should call the ACPs once a month and take stock of the exercise and submit visit observation notes about the quality of “instruction sheets”.

In a non-institutional mechanism, the police station staff should be divided into three parts. The SHO and his colleague inspectors, ATO and investigation, should be made responsible for each part. “Each inspector should closely supervise the staff under his (SHO) command. If any police personnel is found involved in corruption, the concerned inspector and sub-inspectors should also be punished “for not keeping proper watch” and supervision on the lower subordinate staff under their responsibility,” the directives stated.

District DCPs should have a list of all three teams and should meet them periodically and listen to their grievances, Singh said. “They (district DCPs) should also organise lunch/dinner with the staff of police stations on weekends for positive interactions with the lower-level staff and to create a bonhomie atmosphere,” as per the directives.

3. Better response at police stations

Saying that Delhi Police has to improve the response and responsiveness at the police station access level, Singh issued directives saying trained and smart sub-inspectors, head constables and constables should be selected for public facilitation desks. “Two police personnel, one male and one female, should be trained in handling cyber-related complaints and should also be deployed at public facilitation desks,” his directives said.

4. Audit of cases

An audit of cases registered during the last five years will be carried out to see how many cases were registered and how many were charge-sheeted. “Secondly, how many untraced and cancelled cases have been sent to the courts for acceptance. A certificate to the effect should be obtained from the SHOs, and this audit should be completed by August 31,” Singh’s directive said.