Now, a virtual police station to tell about police functioning

NEW DELHI: Details like functioning of police stations and how to file an FIR will now be a click away with the launch of Virtual Police Station (VPS).

To "demystify" the police station and acquaint the public with the functioning of a police station without visiting it physically, international NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative ( CHRI) has developed Virtual Police Station (VPS).

The VPS is first-of-its kind training tool to acquaint the public with the functioning of a police station through the click of a mouse.

It allows the police and public to enter every room of a computerised police station to explore and learn the key procedures such as arrest, registration of complaints of sexual assault, registration of FIRs and more.

The application will be launched here tomorrow.

"VPS is a step towards humanising the functioning of the police as it is important to demystify the police station by exposing citizens to the layers of work -- management, administration, investigation, going to court, forensics -- that the personnel in the police station perform," Maja Daruwala, Director, CHRI told reporters here.

Explaining about the functioning of the training tool, Vivek Trivedi, CHRI said, "In the Virtual Police Station, clicking on various icons of the members of police and public, or objects such as registers and phones, prompts a video and text box to open that explains these key procedures, and seminal resources such as case law and legislation are provided for even deeper learning".

The training tool has been developed as part of a European Union funded project Civil Society and Police Reform in South Asia.

"The aim of the project developed with support from the Rajasthan Police is to enable civil society in South Asia to play a greater role in the promotion of improved policing standards and accountability," Trivedi added.

The VPS will initially be available in Hindi and English, however, CHRI plans to dub it in other Indian languages too.

The tool works both online and offline and is integrated to social media.

"This is not a training tool only for citizens but also for police. The idea is to tell everyone in detail about how a police personnel should not behave with a victim, accused, witness or general public. The tool will provide everyone with an exposure to real life situations," said Kamal Kumar, former Director, National Police Academy.

The tool has already been accepted for inclusion in training module of Rajasthan Police Academy.

"We are also in conversation with police training academies of other states for including VPS in their modules," Trivedi said.