Assam Police Ranks 3rd in Country in Smart Policing Index

Assam police ranked third in the country in overall rating in the index for public perceptions and citizen satisfaction in a survey conducted by the Indian Police Foundation (IPF) for 2021.

IPF used six competency-based dimensions and three values-based dimensions of trust in the survey based on the philosophy underlying the Prime Minister's SMART policing idea.

According to the survey report, it believed that these annual surveys would be an ideal strategy to nudge state police organizations to strive for better public perception and trust levels, year on year, by continuously improving their professional competencies and ethical values and thereby, the quality of their service to the people.

The SMART scores are set on a scale of 1 to 10 and are indicative of the levels of citizen satisfaction, a score of 10 being the highest level of satisfaction.

Andhra Pradesh ranked highest in levels of popular satisfaction with the quality of policing with 8.11 while Telangana ranked 2^nd (8.10) and Assam ranked third (7.89).

Kerala (7.53), Sikkim (7.18), Mizoram (7.14) and Gujarat (7.04) ranked in that order, with an index value of seven or above, 19 states and UTs scored an index value between six and seven, while three states scored between five and six.

The survey report further adds, "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."

Going by the individual indicators for the six competency-based dimension, Assam Police has been ranked at third position in "perception index of police sensitivity", "perception index of strict and good behaviour", "perception index of accessibility", "perception index of police responsiveness" and "perception index of helpful and friendly policing". Only in the "perception index of technology adoption," Assam has ranked eight, the report stated.

Under the three value-based dimensions of trust, Assam Police has ranked third in both "perception index of fair, unbiased and lawful policing" and "perception index of police accountability" but fourth in "perception index of integrity and corruption-free services."

In the "perception score of public trust in the police", the Assam police force has ranked fourth in the country.

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