Bengaluru police add tech muscle to take visitors’ feedback. Here’s why

“Of the 2,650 feedback, more than 1,800 gave a five-star rating to the respective stations. About 850-odd visitors gave us 4-, 3-, 2- and 1-star ratings too. However, we aim to focus on the ones that were rated poor. We are interested in knowing the reasons for such low ratings,” the officer added.

How does it work?

South First visited the Koramangala police station, one of the prominent police stations in the Southeast police division, to find out how the new visitors’ management with QR code works.

Constable Basamma welcomed us, offered a seat and asked for our names, address and phone numbers. After recording the details in a register, she directed us to the station house officer, who took the same details along with the purpose of the visit and entered them into a system that generated a code.

Since our visit was to learn about the visitors’ management system, the purpose was mentioned as ‘others’. A woman sub-inspector, Jyoti, took us through the entire process.

Once the SHO knows the purpose of the visit, the visitor is directed towards the police officer concerned who will expedite the process.

“If the visitor has come for an acknowledgement after losing his/her phone or some documents, we guide them to the e-lost app and also provide them with an acknowledgement. If a mobile is snatched, we ask for a written complaint and register an FIR for robbery. Sometimes, a visitor has to come back another day with additional documents and the officer would promptly give a follow-up date,” Jyoti told South First.

While leaving the station after the visit, the visitor can scan the QR code provided at the station’s entrance and can fill up the feedback form at his/her convenience — either at the station itself or anywhere else.

Soon after the QR code is scanned and the generated code is entered, questions in Kannada and English will appear on the visitor’s phone.

The 10 questions

1. Were you greeted with courtesy?

When one scans the QR code, the questionnaire form pops up on phone. (Sourced)

2. Were you offered a seat and drinking water?
3. Were you guided to the correct officer in charge?
4. Please rate your feedback on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is very satisfied and 1 is least satisfied with the experience of visiting the police station and interacting with the officers.
5. Did you use the Janasnehi police library while waiting for your turn?
6. Were you asked for anything in return for the service/request?
7. Did you fear coming to the police station?
8. Was the purpose of your visit served? or was a follow-up date given to you?
9. How do you rate your overall experience of visiting the local police station?
10. Please share your suggestions/opinions to improve the services and make the police station more people-friendly.

“When some people rate us with one or two stars, my backend team calls the police station concerned and inquires with the SHO why the rating was poor. We get to the bottom of the issue and take corrective measures,” officer Baba said.

“Based on the feedback we are also ranking our staff who have attended to the visitor/complainant. We are ranking the police stations too based on the feedback. The police station staff would not know who had given the feedback except for the backend team, and we maintain confidentiality. So far the response has been good,” he explained.

“This QR code system is to increase our efficiency in terms of service delivery, and also to ensure transparency, besides ushering in more professionalism,” Baba added.

South First had earlier reported on police stations using tech-oriented initiatives for people-friendly policing.