Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed Delhi Police functioning and said a perceptional change was needed about functions and responsibilities of the police among the citizens of the city.

He said the police has to have a hassle-free and citizen-friendly interface with the public, while senior officers should lead patrolling parties, especially in sensitive areas of the city; and, technology should be employed as a force multiplier in achieving the policing objectives.

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The Home Minister was informed that the Delhi Police has commissioned a “Crime Victimization Survey” in May through an independent agency, the Quality Council of India (QCI), which will be conducted soon.

Singh lauded the Delhi Police for achieving “a very swift response time” to emergencies which compared favourably with the best in the world. With the setting up of state-of-the-art control room by March next year under the National Emergency Support System (NESS) project, the response time is set to further improve drastically.

The Home Minister appreciated that more than 75 per cent of 944 distress callers in Delhi have given positive feedback of the police to an online survey.

Singh expressed satisfaction that heinous crimes in the Capital have dropped from a high of 10,266 cases in 2014 to 6,527 last year. The Home Minister, however, voiced concern over the low conviction rate as compared to other metros, Mumbai and Chennai, and called for steps to strengthen the Investigation Wing of the force.

The Home Ministry has sanctioned 4,227 posts (SI/ASI 1409, HC-1,409 and Ct.-1,409) for the purpose of separation of crime investigation and law & order functions. Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik said the process to create a cadre of investigation officers is underway.

Singh directed urgent implementation of the National Emergency Support System (NESS). He said a scientific assessment and evaluation of the CCTV requirements for the city should be carried out.

Delhi Police has undertaken installation of CCTVs at ten police stations on a pilot programme basis which will subsequently be implemented in the remaining 184 police stations. Also, Delhi Police has plans to install 10,000 CCTVs at public places for women’s safety of which nearly 4,000 are in place. Besides, more than 2 lakh CCTVs have been installed by the public under the Nigehban scheme.

Singh said there should be zero tolerance for traffic violations and called for more deployment of women in PCR vans. Patnaik informed the meeting that ongoing recruitment had 33 per cent women while their representation in the force was already much higher than the sanctioned strength.

An RFP will be issued soon for implementation of the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) in the city and should be in place by 2022. Delhi Police is the only force in the country which has enabled registration of e-FIR for cases of mobile phone and vehicle theft, he said.

The Home Minister urged the senior officers to fasttrack projects to achieve optimum utilisation of funds under the capital category.

Calling for raising satisfaction among the force personnel, he directed expeditious implementation of housing projects which stands at a low of about 15 per cent.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officers of Delhi Police and the Ministry attended the meeting.