How Mira Bhayandar police secured top position in Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis’s 100-day program

The various police units were ranked on metrics including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in police investigations, office efficiency, and improving the lives of citizens, among others.

Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar (MBVV) Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey told The Indian Express about the various measures undertaken by them to ensure their performance was better.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The MBVV police introduced the AI challan system whereby all cameras were trained to detect multiple traffic violations like a person riding a bike without a helmet or triple seat riding, and save their registration numbers.

These images are automatically captured by the CCTV cameras, which are then reviewed by the police officer, and challans are generated for the erring vehicles.

“In other police units, there are officers who manually spot traffic violations by looking at CCTV footage and then issue a challan. Here, it is done automatically, thereby making better use of resources like the CCTV camera network,” Pandey said.

Improved website

“We revamped our police website and made it mobile-friendly as well, as many come to the website from their mobile phones,” Pandey said. He added that they also have a green website, meaning the infrastructure on which their site is hosted has a negligible carbon footprint. Other environmentally friendly methods include reducing the size of photos on the website from 10 MB to 1 MB, so that people who download them do not need more internet.

Basic infrastructure for visitors at police stations

“We have maintained a pleasant working atmosphere for visitors coming to the police stations, which includes things like having a visitor’s room, good chairs, and purified water,” said the police commissioner.

There are big screens at the station houses guiding visitors on which officer to approach for their particular task, be it passport verification or registration of a crime. There are standees kept outside police stations with QR codes where visitors are asked to provide feedback on their experiences.

“While we don’t look at it minutely, if a particular police station or officer is constantly getting negative feedback, we will look into the reasons,” Pandey said.

Basic infrastructure for police staff

Some offices, like the DCP Zone (III) and ACP (Virar) offices, were functioning from residential premises. The MBVV police got new offices in the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) buildings for these officers.

The various vehicles that would be lying outside police stations for years together have been auctioned off or given to the legal claimants by getting orders from the courts to clear the space.

Dealing with children

In order to deal better with children who are victims of crimes, the MBVV officers received training from a UNICEF panel.

Pandey said that a child-friendly room with posters and toys is also in the works at the police stations, where children would feel comfortable opening up.