GSPP’s SPARC checklist for ‘People-friendly’ Police Stations
How to light a SPARC of change in your police station…
A checklist for People friendly Police Stations
Structures
- Does your police station (PS) look and feel welcoming to visitors? Do you have adequate facilities for seating and sanitation?
- Does it have a helpdesk for women and children? If not, is there any comfortable area in the PS where women and children can make their complaint without fear and in confidentiality?
- Does your PS display posters on the rights of women, children and other members of the public, as well as the Mission Statement and Citizens’ Charter of the Karnataka State Police?
Procedures
- Does the Crime Board in your PS include a separate list of crimes against women and children and UDRs (Order No. 962)?
- Do you maintain the statistics of crimes against women and children in a separate register? Do such cases get reviewed periodically? What is the follow up action taken?
- In cases of serious physical injury to a woman or a child (a Cognisable Offence), is a case registered immediately?
- Do you give an acknowledgement of every petition? If a case is filed, do you always give a copy of the FIR to a complainant?
- Has there been any case of abuse of power by a police personnel, especially related to women and children, in your PS? If so, what was the action taken?
Attitudes
- Do you enjoy working in your PS? How can you make it more friendly for visitors and police personnel?
- Do all personnel in your PS treat visitors and complainants with sensitivity and courtesy?
- Do enquiries – whether written or verbal, including telephone calls – get replied to promptly?
- Do all police personnel in your PS believe that violence against women and children is unacceptable? Do they understand that in most cases of violence, a complainant comes to the police station as a last resort?
Resources
- How many police personnel (men and women) in your PS have participated in workshops and refresher courses on sensitising police towards violence against women and children? Do these police personnel share their experiences with the rest of the police station?
- Is there any reference material available within the police station on violence against women and children? E.g. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA), the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Prevention of Domestic Violence against Women Act, and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA).
Community Connections
- Is your PS involved in people-friendly/community activities? Do you organise or conduct community meetings with the local neighbourhood watch, mohalla or shanti committees? How often do these meetings take place? How many people attend?
- Do you know/visit the NGOs that work in your area, especially with women and children? Do you display a list of local NGOs/clinics/hospitals/prominent citizens who offer shelter, medical aid, counselling services and/or legal advice? Do you refer complainants to them if required?
- Are there any community outreach programmes on women and children in which your PS, the community groups and the NGOs work together (e.g. meetings in schools, colleges, slums etc)? What is their impact?
- Do you ask for a social worker or local NGO person to be with a child, in cases of children in conflict with the law?
- Has there been any report in the media of your police station and its work? Was this a positive or a negative report?
Your police station could be recognised across the state and the country as truly ‘people friendly’…
Light the SPARC today!
*Acknowledgement: The cartoon on this page is by Ashwin Mohan, drawn for the GSPP Project’s Training and Resource Manual for Police Personnel (2003).
