With a number of COVID-19 cases surfacing among Delhi Police personnel, a police station in east Delhi has begun ‘quarantining’ complaints. The initiative aims at minimising physical contact between policemen and people visiting the station.
Madhu Vihar police station personnel are not touching written complaints for a period of 24 hours after receipt. Station House Officer Rajeev Kumar said “complaints are quarantined” before they are picked up for further proceedings. Not only are the complaints ‘quarantined’, the police station has an iron that is used on the complaint sheet for heat treatment to kill any possible viruses in case of emergency.
Mr. Kumar said whenever a person comes with a complaint, the duty officer takes a picture on his phone and reads it. The person is then asked to put the complaint in a file kept on the table after which it is uploaded to the computer and an acknowledgement of receipt is sent on the complainant’s mobile phone.
“In case the complaint needs to be immediately touched, the policemen iron it first before holding it,” said the SHO. At the police station, briefings by the SHO are sent on WhatsApp in the morning and the staff also share documents online as far as possible. “Video calls are preferred to meeting in person,” said Mr. Kumar.
