Context: According to findings of a nationwide survey conducted by independent think-tank Indian Police Foundation under its recently released report Smart Policing Index 2021.

Background

• The study had a total sample size of 1,61,192 people, with 64% of respondents coming in over the internet and 36% via face-to-face, telephonic interviews, and other paper-based data collection techniques. 

Key Findings

• As per the conclusions of a countrywide assessment undertaken by independent think-tank Indian Police Foundation, BIHAR has the worst overall policing, followed by Uttar Pradesh. 
• The motive of the IPF Smart Policing Index is to determine public opinion on the quality of policing in India as well as public faith in the police.
• When compared to those in the north, southern states and several in the Northeast did higher on most policing indices. 
• The top five states in the 'IPF Smart Policing Index 2021' are Andhra Pradesh (8.11), Telangana (8.10), Assam (7.89), Kerala (7.53), and Sikkim (7.18). 
• The five states at the bottom of the list, on the other hand, were Punjab (6.07), Jharkhand (6.07), Chhattisgarh (5.93), Uttar Pradesh (5.81), and Bihar (6.07).

?SMART Policing Index

• The purpose of the IPF survey was to gather information on citizens’ perceptions about the impact of the SMART policing initiative.
• Indian Police Foundation (IPF) is a Delhi-based think tank set up by eminent citizens including serving and retired police officers, civil servants, academics and lawyers etc – for each individual state or Union territory.
• The SMART Scores are a measure of one to ten that indicate levels of customer 's satisfaction, with ten representing the highest degree of satisfaction.

The survey had 10 sets of questionnaires, which included

• Six indices of “Competence-Based Indicators” dealing with issues such as police sensitivity, accessibility, responsiveness and technology adoption among others;
• Three indices of “Value-Based indicators” dealing with integrity of the police; and
• One index of “Trust”.

The SMART scores are set on a scale of 1 to10 and are indicative of the levels of citizen satisfaction, a score of 10 being the highest level of satisfaction.

Additional Information

By: Shubham Tiwari