Periyakulam Police Station stands tall at number 8 in all-India ranking

The Periyakulam police station in Theni has been ranked number eight in the All India Police Station ranking survey for 2018 undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has ranked 87 stations across the country. This station also topped the rankings among the police stations in the state. The ranking was released on June 24, 2019.

Mailam police station in Villupuram was ranked 47, while the Rajapalayam South police station in Virudhunagar was ranked 50.

The all-India top spot went to the Kalu police station in Rajasthan, followed by Campbell Bay police station in the Andaman Islands and Farakka station in Murshidabad in West Bengal, while Nettapakkam station in Puducherry was ranked number 4.

The survey was based on the measurement of the activities of the police station with respect to proactive crime prevention, detection, speed of disposal of cases, back-end work, action taken against anti-social elements and community policing.

This was given 80 per cent of weightage in the scoring. Infrastructural facilities, approachability and citizen feedback about the staff were given 20 per cent.

The report released by the ministry says that this survey is intended to motivate police stations to maintain updated records at all times and organise themselves better.

Data on performance was provided by the concerned stations while the data on infrastructure and citizen feedback was based on observation and evaluation by trained assessors. One senior assessor collected data from the police station, while one junior assessor visited adjoining areas to collect citizen feedback – from people leaving the station, shopkeepers at the market place and pedestrians in the residential area. Photographs collected during the survey were time-stamped and geo-tagged for credibility. For the 2018 survey, 87 stations were shortlisted and ranked from 15,666 police stations in the country against the 59 shortlisted in 2017.

The evaluation of infrastructure examined a range of facilities such as presence of good seating for visitors, recreational facilities for staff, canteens, special desks, and even the presence and maintenance of toilets.

“After we got the rank, our police station was appreciated by many people. Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam also visited our station to appreciate us,” say officials at the Periyakulam police station. “We were informed that we were among the three police stations in the state selected for the survey and for almost a month we were asked to give details about our station. The officials who did the survey visited us and recorded everything. They monitored how we interacted with the public, how clean and organised the office was and they also asked the public about their opinion of the station.”

Officials at the station say they had no difficulty in meeting the criteria. Two officers were trained to update the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) daily and ensure there was no backlog. The station was re-modelled and renovated with help from the Housing Board. “This survey is very good because it motivates everyone to perform better,” they said.

The survey was the result of a Home Ministry directive in 2016 that the police stations in the country be ranked according to their performance. The idea was to identify the 10 best police stations in the country and the top station for every state or union territory.

The Conference Secretariat of the Intelligence Bureau commissioned and prepared the methodology of the survey executed by the Quality Council of India (QCI).The survey was designed by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). The survey is based on the Rajasthan model of grading police stations which was modified by the BPR&D.

Police stations were shortlisted on the basis of data from the CCTNS which were maintained by the stations themselves. Three stations each were selected from states that had over 750 police stations, two each from other states and one each from the union territories. For the first time, the short listing was based solely on the CCTNS data for performance. For the 2017 survey, state governments were asked to nominate stations for the shortlist.

The stations were evaluated based on data relating to crimes against women, crimes against SC/ST and property offences. These parameters were chosen because these crimes have a pan-Indian character.

In 2017, Coimbatore’s B-2 RS Puram police station topped the all India list, while Chennai’s Anna Nagar K-4 police station secured rank no 5, both of whom have found no mention in the 2018 report. Officers at the RS Puram police station said that they could not participate in the 2018 survey because there was a shortage of manpower. “This survey is a great initiative as it motivates us to perform better and also makes the people more aware about the functioning of the police department. We don't see it as a competition and just perform our duties and responsibilities. We have got a good name among the public after we secured the top rank in the 2017 All India police station ranking list,” they said.

Coimbatore’s C-2 Race Course police station participated in the 2018 survey, but did not make the cut.

The report concludes that in future, if the 15,666 police stations across India are classified into different groups based on crime patterns, level of urbanisation and police-population ratio the ranking exercise would provide a more level playing field for police stations of different geographies, crime densities and resources. This would also help build a nationwide crime and criminal database, allowing for faster co-ordination among the police forces of different states.