Bouquets and brickbats for Delhi Police in 2021

New Delhi: From being on the forefront as 'Covid warriors' to facing the wrath of agitating farmers and the violence on Republic Day, 2021 was a challenging year for Delhi Police which was also heavily criticised by city courts for being "shoddy" and "callous" in its probe into the northeast Delhi violence cases.

The Delhi Police was on its toes the entire year handling incidents like the Rohini court shootout, farmer agitation and minor blast near the Israeli embassy.

From being on the forefront as 'Covid warriors' to facing the wrath of agitating farmers and the violence on Republic Day, 2021 was a challenging year for Delhi Police which was also heavily criticised by city courts for being "shoddy" and "callous" in its probe into the northeast Delhi violence cases.

The Delhi Police was on its toes the entire year handling incidents like the Rohini court shootout, farmer agitation and minor blast near the Israeli embassy. "The number of arrests was much higher than before. Recovery of stolen property was also higher in 2021 as compared to the previous year," he added.

The year also witnessed changes at the helm of the force with the 1984 (Gujarat cadre) senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthana taking over as Delhi Police Commissioner on July 28. Before his appointment, senior IPS officer Balaji Srivastav was given the additional charge of Delhi Police Commissioner after the retirement of SN Shrivastava in June end.

Soon after taking over as the chief of Delhi Police, Asthana brought sweeping changes in the functioning of Delhi Police.

The first step towards it was creation of "Police Secretariat" at the headquarters with the objective to make a specialised operational wing, which report directly to the chief of the force. This was done to streamline existing processes and not have to spend time taking meetings seeking basic update from the Special CPs.

Then came the first major reshuffle in the force after Asthana took charge in which 40 senior officers including 11 Special Commissioners and 28 DCPs and additional DCPs were transferred. With this reshuffle, women IPS officers started heading six districts out of the 15 in Delhi while three other IPS officers were appointed in Special Cell with an intention to strengthen the policing system and induce new energy.

In the same reshuffle, a new unit named perception management and media cell, headed by Special Commissioner of Police Sanjay Beniwal, was also started to coordinate with media and create a positive image of the force by promoting its good work.

Making a decisive shift in the postings, eight women officers – who were among the 44 first timers were posted as SHOs for the first time in the force.

The development came a day after a shootout took place inside a courtroom in Rohini court which left three people, including gangster Jitender Gogi, dead triggering criticism over the security lapse.

An open house was also started every Friday for redressal of grievances of police personnel at police headquarters and for better surveillance and to more efficiently attending to law and order issues, Delhi Police's control room patrolling vans were also integrated with police stations.