Hyderabad: The two Telugu states have topped in the Smart Policing Index 2021 survey conducted by the Indian Police Foundation (IPF). While Andhra Pradesh stood first, Telangana is placed at the second spot.
IPF, an NGO, had carried out a nationwide survey to assess citizens perceptions about the impact of the SMART policing initiative. Individual composite scores have been given separately for each State/UT, based on statistical principles and to every state, and an index of the levels of public satisfaction has been realized.
The survey associated nine elements in the SMART policing idea to the tellings of police trust in the public. These nine elements were additionally dissected into six competence-based and three value-based elements.
The report found that despite being attacked for insufficient sensitivity, declining public confidence and growing concerns about the quality of policing, a majority of citizens (a weighted average of 66.93%) believe that the police are doing their job well and strongly support the police.
While a large chunk of people has positive perceptions, the share of the discontented population that remains unhappy with the state of policing, is very significant and sizeable. The levels of popular satisfaction with the quality of policing were highest in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Kerala, Sikkim, Mizoram and Gujarat.
“However, the distribution of responses was very uneven, with an extremely large number of responses from some States and a very low number of responses from others. Some states/ UTs could not be included in this report, for want of a statistically significant number of responses.” the report added.
“The report is being shared in public so that citizens would exercise pressure on the police to improve the quality of policing. Above all, this exercise provides an opportunity for all players and stakeholders to work together to build heightened awareness and devise strategies to improve competencies and reinforce values, the two fundamental dimensions of SMART policing and public trust in the police,” wrote N. Ramachandran IPS (Retired) President, IPF and the Principal Researcher of this survey.