Odisha police issue SOP to keep police stations away from Covid-19

BHUBANESWAR: The director general of police Abhay has issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) on steps of dealing with visitors at the police stations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Police stations have been asked to keep visitors away from the main buildings and shift the reception desks to some isolated structures on the same campus.
The SOP has been circulated to the heads of all police establishments in the state after a number of police personnel got infected by the novel coronavirus in different districts, mostly in Ganjam and Berhampur. Several police stations are being shut temporarily for sanitization.
“Police stations and outposts are fundamental to the functioning of the district and commissionerate police. Citizens visit the police stations for normal and emergency cases. Adequate precautions should be taken in view of the virus outbreak,” said Abhay’s circular.
According to the SOP, complainants may be allowed to visit the reception desk area, which should be shifted from the main police station building to an isolated place on the campus. “In case the police station does not have any other structures away from the main building, they should build a makeshift tent at a distance from the main building and convert it into a temporary reception desk,” the SOP said.
A transparent glass or plastic screen should be erected between visitors and reception personnel. “A two-way intercom or some other alternative communication system should be provided to the reception desk from the main police station building. The reception area should be properly and regularly disinfected. Hand sanitizers should be provided to visitors, who must wear masks,” the SOP said. Those manning the reception centres have been asked to thoroughly clean and sanitize themselves immediately after their end of the shifts.
In his standard protocol, the DGP Abhay laid stress on the maximum use of telephone-based grievance redressal system during the pandemic. District police offices or the SP offices and police range offices have been asked to popularize their telephone numbers among complainants and discourage visitors to visit their offices to avoid possible infection by the virus. Complaint boxes have been installed outside SP offices, police range offices and police stations to receive complaints from people. SPs have also been asked to redress the grievances of people on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.
“We have increased the capacity of our dial 100 system and have been attending thousands of calls each day. The feedback we get is quite positive. The dial 100 system keeps us informed when there are problems for us to intervene,” commissioner of police Sudhanshu Sarangi said.
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