Smart police stations in the making

Police station buildings being "ambience-wise pathetic, space-wise inadequate and cleanliness-wise extremely poor," the government now plans an image makeover for them.

The government is preparing uniform guidelines for all police station buildings and has sought suggestions from stakeholders for improving on the draft submitted by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD).

The draft is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of SMART Police, a senior official said. According to the 'Draft Concept Paper of Guidelines/Norms for Modern Police Station Buildings 2016,' it is important that these buildings are designed to make people feel at “ease and comfortable in terms of space, cleanliness, functionality and privacy,” while enabling police personnel to perform their “duties smoothly.”

Though the space earmarked for police stations in metros, major cities, semi-urban and rural areas differ in dimension, all such amenities are required to have certain common facilities.

The entrance should be disabled friendly, must have separate toilets for men, women and the disabled, a help desk for women, restrooms and toilets for personnel. There should be a separate office room with attached toilet for women personnel while an attached individual restroom should be there for Station House Officers and Inspectors who work for long hours.

Lockups should be provided an internal toilet with low walls, whose edges should be rounded. It should be monitored 24X7 on CCTV. Police stations should have a gymnasium, besides a recreation room for personnel staying in barracks.

A room should be allocated for police to counsel the complainant in case of petty complaints. The concept paper also favours a uniform colour code for external walls, which will make it easier for a common man to identify police stations.

The draft also lays down requirements of police stations in insurgency hit areas -- eight feet high perimeter wall, barbed/concertina wire fencing over boundary wall, watch towers, blocks on approach roads to police stations, CCTV scanning, alternative communication system and emergency alarm system.

“In India, today, many police station buildings are not suitable as far as optimum functional requirement is concerned. There is a need to provide functional spaces as per present requirement for smooth working of police personnel,” the draft noted.

The government is revising a 2005 document prepared by CPWD, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi and Karnataka Police Housing Corporation to ensure that the changed times are reflected in police station buildings, the official said.
DH News Service