Manipur has the best police station in country, TN has the second best

Manipur’s Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district has been picked as the best-performing police station in India by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). AWPS-Suramangalam in Salem City, Tamil Nadu, is second, followed by Kharsang in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district, in the top 10 list announced on Thursday (December 3).

“The Government of India selects best performing police stations across the country every year, to incentivise more effective functioning of police stations and bring healthy competition among them,” the MHA said in a statement.

This is in accordance with the directions Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave while addressing the Directors General of Police during the 2015 conference in Kutch, Gujarat. Modi had directed that parameters should be laid down for grading police stations and assessing their performance based on feedback. This year’s survey for best police stations was conducted under challenging circumstances by the MHA, the ministry said.

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It was difficult to access police stations located in remote areas during the coronavirus pandemic due to various restrictions on movement. Consequently, the survey was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the government, it added.

The objective was to rank the top 10 police stations out of 16,671 police stations in the country through data analysis, direct observation and public feedback, the MHA said.

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The ranking process commenced with shortlisting of the best performing police stations, in each state on the basis of addressing property offence, crime against women, crime against weaker sections. The parameter of missing persons, unidentified found person and unidentified dead bodies, was introduced this year, it said.

The number of police stations selected initially comprised three from each state with more than 750 police stations, two from all other states and Delhi, one each from Union territories. Of these, 75 police stations were selected for next stage of the ranking process.

In the final stage, 19 parameters were identified to evaluate the standards of service delivery and identify techniques of improvement in policing. This part constituted 80% of weightage in overall scoring. The balance 20% was based on infrastructure of the police station and approachability of personnel and feedback of citizens.

The categories of citizens included were from nearby residential areas, nearby markets and citizens leaving police stations. Citizens who were approached for feedback included 4,056 respondents, covering approximately 60 people at each shortlisted location.

“All states of the Union participated in this year’s survey with full co-operation to complete the survey during pandemic period. The annual ranking of police stations recognises the hard work of our police personnel, encourages our police forces and also provides a feedback on many aspects of policing in the country for future guidance. It also provides a picture of the state of physical infrastructure, resources and deficiencies at the level of police stations. The annual exercise of ranking of police stations works as a constant guide for improvements,” the MHA said.