New Delhi: The only way you can see the inside of a police station is by committing a crime or complaining about a crime committed against you. Neither scenario is especially desirable.
Unfortunately police stations do not give members of the public guided tours. The police are usually too busy for that.
Curious citizens had no way of knowing what exactly policemen and women do inside the forbidding exterior of a police station. Until now, that is.
Knowing how police stations function and what are the liabilities of police personnel as well as the rights of citizens is now just a click away with the launch of a Virtual Police Station (VPS) here.
The VPS, developed by international NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) to "demystify" the police station and acquaint the public with the functioning of a police station without visiting it physically, was launched here today.
The VPS is first-of-its kind training tool to acquaint the public with the functioning of a police station through the click of a mouse.
It allows the police and public to enter every room of a computerised police station to explore and learn the key procedures such as arrest, registration of complaints of sexual assault, registration of FIRs and more.
"It is very important to make the functioning of police stations comprehensible for general public. Everybody fears approaching police, they should no how they should go ahead with it and how are the police personnel supposed to behave with them," former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said at the launch.
Bedi also suggested development of the tool in form of a mobile application to increase its reach and accessibility.
Abha Singhal Joshi, Lawyer and Faculty at National Police Academy, said, "Lack of training methodology for those entering the police force is abysmal. Such kind of a tool is required to enable the police personnel in not just developing a synthesis between spirit and letter of law but sysntheis with real time situations when they actually work at police stations."
In the Virtual Police Station, clicking on various icons of the members of police and public, or objects such as registers and phones, prompts a video and text box to open that explains these key procedures, and seminal resources such as case law and legislation are provided for even deeper learning.
(with inputs from PTI)
