BHOPAL: Researchers from the US and London have zeroed in on Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh for a pilot study to probe the effectiveness of key functions of the police department. They will also suggest a series of ways to enhance efficiency. A team of researchers from the University of Virginia and the London School of Economics have embarked on the study. This is part of a larger research under the auspices of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the research centre of the premier Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“The reason for selecting Vidisha is to ensure that researchers during the course of the study for the more comprehensive and broad-based future research have immediate access to key requirements. Vidisha has been chosen as it falls in the immediate vicinity of state capital Bhopal,” said a senior police official at the MP state police headquarters in Bhopal.The larger multi-disciplinary research will be conducted in police stations across the 51 districts of the state.
The most critical area of the pilot study is the Dial 100 emergency service of the MP Police which was launched in November 2015 and has been replicated by adjoining Uttar Pradesh.
The service, which comprises a fleet of 1,000 multi-facility-equipped First Response Vehicles (FRVs), has aroused the curiosity of police departments of 20-odd states.The other critical area of research is the Mahila Desk created at police station level. The research aims to study how women police officers are addressing crime against women in the state. Since last three years, MP has been among the top five states in terms of cases of crime against women.
The third critical area of study will be the Jan Sunwai (public hearing) at police station level. These Jan Sunwais are aimed at addressing public grievances.“The study would definitely be of great help to us for evaluating the pros and cons of our critical services. It will definitely be more credible, as it is being done by a third party,” said Vidisha district police superintendent Vineet Kapoor, who is also coordinating the research project.The findings will be published globally.