GUWAHATI, July 9 - Very soon, you might get an altogether new experience while visiting a police station in the city � a woman police personnel manning a help desk outside the police station will ask you �How can I help you?� and offer you a glass of water.
In an image makeover initiative, Assam Police is training a group of woman constables who would man help desks to be set up at every police station.
A pilot project is being taken up by the city police commissionerate, and 20 police stations would have such public facilitation desks soon. The help desk is expected to be open round the clock.
�We are currently training a group of woman personnel. We hope to complete the training of the first batch by this month and deploy them at the police stations. A help desk was always needed at a police station,� Commissioner of Police Hiren Nath told The Assam Tribune.
Sources said that around 45 woman personnel have been selected by a special committee to undergo the training. The personnel selected are from different battalions of the State, mostly new recruits.
They are being trained on soft skills, public relations, responsibility of police, organisational structure of Assam Police and work distribution at police stations by experts in the field. The personnel manning the desk would be the first responders and would guide a visitor who might come with varied problems.
�People come with different problems to a police station. The help desk would guide them as to where to go and what to do, availability of officers etc.,� Nath said.
The personnel would be wearing the blue uniform of Assam Police woman personnel.
A senior police official said the help desk would assist the visitor to avoid hassles in getting the complaint registered at a police station and guide the complainant to the police official concerned.
�The objective is to achieve better connectivity with the public. It is a kind of single window system for visitors to the police station where the visitors will not feel uncomfortable while visiting any police station in the city. It will be like a reception counter at the police station. The idea is to make people welcome,� the official said.
There have been complaints of people making repeated rounds of police stations as their grievances were not addressed.
Sources said the help desk would also maintain details of the visitors in a log book which would be periodically reviewed by senior officials.
The move is also expected to keep away middlemen who often dupe complainants by claiming that they have connections with police officials and can get cases registered or settled.
