Conduct decoy operation at police stations: DGP to SPs

JAIPUR: Buoyed by the success of first ever decoy operation conducted on Tuesdays to check workings at seven police stations, Rajasthan DGP Kapil Garg on Friday directed all districts SPs to conduct similar stealth checkings of their police stations to check if FIRs are registered on time, and requisite standard procedures like searches and spot verification followed.DGP Kapil Garg’s latest directions come after a successful pilot run of such discreet operations at seven of the state police’s stations. The Vigilance wing sent their sleuths posing as complainants to file FIRs of stolen vehicles. The police stations were found to be inexplicably refusing to file FIRs. “Rules stipulates immediate registration of FIR as soon as a complaint lands at Duty Officer’s (DO) room. Cops cannot put lodging of the FIR on the back burner.Police stations shy away registering FIRs in property offences as they fear high registration of FIR will be seen as spurt in crime,” an official said, adding that DGP has directed that decoy operations must be conducted once in a month.The sources said that SPs will be able to gauge the working of their police stations through a decoy operation. “SPs will at least get to know SHOs who behave badly with complainants or indulge in corrupt practises, the official added.The decoy operation undertaken by the vigilance wing led to a ‘sudden’ increase in the registration of FIRs in vehicle lifting cases in the city. The ‘sting operation’ stunned police stations so much that a record 27 FIRs were registered on Wednesday, just a day after the reporting of the decoy operation came to the fore.The vigilance team for the first time in recent times had embarked on such a decoy operation. An action is likely to be taken against erring cops. “From seven FIRs on Monday to 27 on Wednesday, we can easily extrapolate from figures how police stations deliberately delay filing of FIRs,” an official said. The Rajasthan police provided online registration of complaints in vehicle lifting, the cops, however said that police stations can at least guide complainants to avail online service option.