SOP Station House Management by Kerala Police

2 1. POLICE STATION - A CITIZEN FRIENDLY SERVICE DELIVERY UNIT
wise personal prejudices may
adversely affect the nature of
service and the interest of justice.
vi. There is a Code
of Conduct specifically prescribed
for the Police. Not
only in India, the Police organizations,
of all countries have
a Code of Conduct. Even the
United Nations has evolved a
Code of Conduct for law enforcement
agencies. Service to
public is the most important
one in all the above Codes of
Conduct.
The question we have to
ask ourselves is ‘Is our Police
Station a Citizen friendly
service delivery unit?’ If
the answer is in the negative,
we have to do some soulsearching
and initiate remedial
measures as otherwise we
are not fulfilling the basic purpose
and are failing in getting
public trust. The following
are some of the basic
things that should be ensured
if the Police Station is to serve
the purpose of being a citizen
friendly public facility:
1.1 Free accessibility
As people freely and confidently
walk up to a Hospital,
a Post-Office or a Bank
to get their things done,
so should the victims, complainants
or aggrieved people,
be able to walk up to a Police
Station without any restriction/hesitation.
We often
hear political leaders including
Home Ministers and
Chief Minister complaining
that even today people with
genuine grievances are afraid
of going to a Police Station.
If a victìm or a complainant
is afraid of going
to a Police Station,
it negates the very purpose
of sanctity of a Police
Station. Somehow over
the years we have created an
impression that people are not
welcome at the Police Station
and those who come would, be
ill-treated. In some stations,
the Police Station staff scare
away even people who are innocent
and legitimately pass
by the pathways around the
Police Station. This has to
be changed by deliberate efforts
on our part. For this, the
Station staff has to be properly
attuned to constant briefing
that those who come to
the Police Station for lodging
a complaint or for making
a representation or for some
help should be allowed free
access and should be courteously
treated.
1.2 Help Desk/
Reception
Earlier in Police Stations the
reception was unpleasant, for
those who visit the Police Station.
Apart from not having
a place where a visitor
can go and be seated till he
is called in, if the visitor is
ignored, it will adversely affect
upon the Police. To overcome
this, now all Police Stations
had Reception or Help
desk, a suitable place to which
the visitors are automatically
guided by duty women constable
or sentry Police constable.
Every Police Station has
a furnished and earmarked,
computerized, trained women
staff in the reception. A Visitors
Book is also kept in the
reception, to take feedback
from the public.
1.3 Registration of
cases
A common complaint against
Police is that even when some
incidents or an emergency is
reported to the Police Station
either on telephone or in person,
the Police do not respond
by reaching the place of incident
within a reasonable time,
if not at once, since all Police
stations are provided with
patrol vehicles by the Government.
It is regretted that if
only Police had responded immediately,
a life would have
been saved or further damages
would have been averted.
1.4 Human touch
Since most of the visitors to
the Police Station are aggrieved
persons or victims,
they are under emotional
stress. They expect the Policeman
to understand their
predicament and give emotional
support by way of empathy
and sympathy. It is
again a common complaint
that instead of getting empathy,
most often the way Police
treatment further aggravates
the emotional strain, making
them repent as to why they
had come to the Police Station.
Human touch in the
dealings of the Police with
people would go a long way
in making people feel that the
Police Station is a public facility
and a citizen friendly service
delivery unit.
1.5 Rendering
help
Police Station staff is supposed
to know about the important
people, places, their