The police stations will be regularly visited to make sure the standards are maintained.
Chennai’s police force has set a precedent for the rest of India. Seven police stations in the Ambattur police district have received the ISO 9001:2015 certification on February 27, 2018.
The ISO 9001:2015 certification applies to any organisation, regardless of size or industry. Around a million organisations from more than 160 countries have applied this standard to their quality management systems. The certification helps ensure that customers consistently receive high-quality products and services.
The locations where this certification has been implemented are Thirumullaivoyal, Kundrathur, Ambattur Estate, Avadi Tank Factory, SRMC, Pattabiram and Nazarathpet. The certification is valid until February 2021. Surveillance audits will be conducted on an annual basis, and a renewal audit will be held after three years.
IQ Net, an agency, monitored these police stations for three months.
Receiving this certification has its advantages. Earlier, despite the requirement of the cops to respond to a complaint within 24 hours, there was no mechanism to ensure the same. With the new system, a team collects feedback from the complainant and takes action if the person expresses dissatisfaction with the police service.
AK Viswanathan, the police commissioner of Chennai, said that the project was a template, and an example for others to follow, to reach targets and build a positive image of the police force among the general population.
Officers of other police stations have been asked to follow suit and directed to bring in a system, so as to obtain the ISO certification for their respective stations (137 of them) in Chennai.
An ISO certification would ensure accountability for police personnel, according to S Sarvesh Raj, the Deputy Commissioner of Police.
He also mentioned that nothing new had been added to the policing process and everything remains as is mentioned in the police standing order, the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Senior officers want to know the daily activities of their subordinates, Raj added, saying that a daily chart will show the cop’s effectiveness.
Parameters like the maintenance of law and order, petition handling, the method of dealing with those accused, night patrols, investigations, crowd management and cyber skills will be identified using a skill matrix chart. The police personnel will be classified into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled.
A consultant from IQ Net, M Ram Kumar, told the Times of India, that he had stayed at the police stations mentioned above, and observed the police work in real-time. Every year, a consultant will visit to ensure the standards are being maintained.
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Conferring the ISO:9001 standards on police stations is a great way to standardise the best practices that police forces are expected to implement, all over India.
Today it is Chennai, but tomorrow, each police station in the country, can be certified as maintaining a particular standard of excellence. That will bolster the law and order effort, and boost the faith in the police machinery, for the general public.
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