KOCHI: The much-hyped Smart Police Kiosk has drawn a blank with hardly any complaint coming through the kiosk. The two kiosks installed, one near the Kadavanthra Metro station and the other exclusively for women near Marine Drive, have virtually turned into scarecrows.
The kiosks were set up to avoid the hassle of going to a police station to file a complaint. The first complaint register kiosk started operating in Kadavanthra as part of the ‘Smart Policing’ project, with the then DGP Loknath Behera inaugurating it virtually on April 30 last year.
The smart kiosk is connected to the system of the police officer on duty at the Ernakulam North police control room. The objective of the kiosk is to enable the public to connect with the police round the clock. During the height of the Covid pandemic, the initiative provided people the option of lodging complaints without being physically present at police stations. However, within a year, the initiative appears to have failed to achieve its objective. The same is the case with the kiosk set up near the High Court at Marine Drive exclusively for women.
The police concede the kiosks are underutilised.“The kiosk for women was opened in June last year. But that too is underutilised, maybe because of the Covid situation easing up. Also, women prefer emails and direct petitions,” said City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju.
With the failure of these kiosks, the police are considering dropping the plan to open similar kiosks in various parts of the city.The initiative allows the complainant to communicate directly with an officer over Skype by pressing the video call button on the screen. The officer will write down the grievance and forward it to the respective police station based on jurisdiction. The complainant will later receive a receipt on his or her mobile phone with the petition number and other details necessary for further proceedings.
service 24x7
Set up to avoid the hassle of going to a police station to file a complaint
Connected to the system of the police officer on duty at the Ernakulam North police control room
Objective is to enable the public to connect with the police round the clock