Senior cops’ weekly check-ins at police stations boost case detection, cut pendency in Maharashtra
Solapur city police recently arrested a couple wanted in a three-year-old financial fraud case after a deputy commissioner of police instructed the investigating officer to check their children’s school records during weekly inspection.
By tracking Permanent Education Number (PEN) and Unified District Education Information System (UDISE) data, officers discovered that the records were transferred to a school in a remote district of Andhra Pradesh, leading to the arrest of the couple for the Rs 2 crore scam.
In March this year, the Director General of Police issued an order mandating Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) and Deputy Superintendents of Police (DySPs) to visit all police stations once a week, in addition to their regular schedule.
“It has come to the notice of the DGP office that in many departments, after an offense is registered, the probation officers do not periodically review the case documents prepared by the investigating officers (IO),” a senior police official told PTI.
He said that police inspectors, SDPOs, ACPs and DCPs did not regularly review records at police stations under their jurisdiction, hence important decisions and leads were not followed up during investigation into cases.
“According to the order, all unit commanders have been asked to prepare a schedule of weekly or bi-weekly visits of ACPs and DySPs to police stations under their jurisdiction.” he said. This enabled these senior officers to visit every police station under their jurisdiction at least once a week, he said, adding that the visit schedule should be in addition to regular visits, surprise checks or official police station inspections for law and order.
He said officers in charge have been asked to ensure that at least 25 per cent of investigating officers are present with case files, including active criminal investigations, accidental death cases and complaint applications.
According to officials, the overall results have been positive, with the percentage of pending cases decreasing and charges becoming error-free.
“This initiative has helped the police in clearing pending cases and increased the detection rate of cases. As officers of ACP and DySP ranks monitor developments regularly, they are becoming more professional,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Nikhil Gupta told PTI.
He said that to ensure accountability, the Maharashtra police will soon open a portal where ACPs and DySPs will have to fill details about their visits to police stations.
Conceptualizing the initiative across the state, Gupta said it would be monitored by elders, including officers from the state police headquarters.
“We asked our officers to announce the visit schedule to the public so that our citizens can meet with these officials with their grievances and complaints,” he said.
In Raigad, the initiative helped arrest a murder suspect who was on the run for 24 years, Superintendent of Police Anchal Dalal told PTI.
“Having the ACP or DySP sit down with the IOs once a week to review and follow up with the case documents makes a huge impact,” he said.
In Konkan Region alone, 8,203 case papers were examined between March and November, including 2,046 in Palghar, 1,816 in Raigad and 1,989 in Thane Rural.
Regular visits by DCPs and complaint initiatives like Takrar Nivaran already exist in Mumbai and the Mumbai Police Commissioner meets citizens on a weekly basis to hear complaints, another official said.
After the implementation of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the role of ACP became limited. He said earlier, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, an ACP-level officer could take preventive measures but this power was now given to DCPs or SPs.
“This initiative has helped the police force reduce the number of pending cases and increase detections,” Solapur city Police Commissioner M Raj Kumar told PTI. he said.
