COVID-19: Gautam Buddh Nagar police sets up system for 'virtual meeting' with complainants

Noida (UP), Jul 13 () Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Gautam Buddh Nagar police on Monday started a "virtual meeting" system to allow interaction between officers and complainants without physical contact.

Under the new system, a complainant will have to reach his or her local police station where a device will be installed through which they can interact with the concerned police official virtually, thus avoiding any physical contact with them.

This system, launched by Police Commissioner Alok Singh, will also help senior police officers to hold virtual meetings with the officer in-charge of any police station.

Microsoft is providing technical solutions for the new system, officials said.

Any complainant can now reach his/her local police station and interact with senior officers, including ACPs, DCPs, ADCPs or the CP, through the "virtual" mode between 11 am and 12 pm daily, a police spokesperson said.

"Also, documents or complaint letters etc. can be submitted for perusal of senior officers online with the help of scanners that would be made available at each police station," the spokesperson said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Akhilesh Kumar, who was present at the launch along with Additional CP (Headquarters) Shriparna Ganguly and other officers, said the initiative has been launched in eight police stations of the district on Monday and would be started in remaining 13 within this month.

"The initiative has been taken in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and primarily aims at benefitting the public at large and would also serve the police officials in their interaction without having to move from one place to another," Kumar said.

"This would help people avoid unnecessarily travel amid the pandemic and avoid contracting the infection. Also, in case they want to submit any documents or complaints to the senior officers, scanning machines at the local police stations would help them send it online," he said.

Elaborating on the functioning of the system, the officer said devices have been set up with the help of Microsoft at the police stations where any complainant can reach between 11 am and 12 pm and they would be connected with senior officers that they wish to interact with.

"However, any aggrieved person would have to reach the police station in any case. Since police stations are usually the first place any person with a complaint approaches, hence it has been decided this way. Also officials at the station level could guide them for procedures, if need," he told .

"The initiative is primarily aimed at helping people but will also be used for inter-departmental interactions. It would function like other prevalent modes of video conferences that we use these days," he added.

The process of getting complaints registered or raising any issue with the police would also continue the traditional way as usual – by reaching a police station and giving a complaint.

Officials said while the system will largely be helpful, there is one issue that is likely to arise – availability of officers during the given time to multiple complainants.

"Since the time duration for public's interaction with senior officers is limited to one hour daily, there could be days when multiple people wish to speak to a particular officer but that won't be possible," Kumar said.

"The police will prioritise the cases in such a situation and once it becomes a regular feature it could be modified appropriately so that the problem is resolved,"he added. KIS TDS TDS