By Probir Pramanik, IANS
Mumbai : Japanese corporates call it “Kaizen”, a concept that involves taking the opinion of every employee, and that is what Mumbai Police, often accused of lacking in intelligence gathering, have decided to adopt.
No, Mumbai Police will not corporatise its 27,000-strong force but will allow more say to junior personnel like constables, who are a storehouse of information but are often too tongue-tied while interacting with seniors.
“To give more teeth to the force, we have decided to incorporate the Japanese philosophy called Kaizen,” says Additional Commissioner of Police Suresh Khopde, the brain behind the move.
Khopde, who realised that street-level constables are superb problem solvers, decided to put the concept of Kaizen, which literally means taking the opinion of every employee to tackle a situation.
“It is a fact that Mumbai Police are often accused of intelligence failure. And we don’t blame people for it,” admitted the police officer.
The idea, says Khopde, is to give even the ground-level staff a chance to communicate directly with the top brass, setting aside official pecking order, albeit temporarily.
“We have been overlooking the fact that our ground-level staff are the best informed and are apt in dealing with the situation on the street. Their street intelligence is tremendous, with a wide network of informants. However, we have not really been able to cash in on this. Their opinion is rarely sought, let alone be heard,” Khopde said.
To boost quality policing, the Mumbai Police top brass have incorporated another Japanese concept of “quality circles” in the western suburbs of the metropolis’ northern region police circle, as a pilot project for the past month.
“After having studied the concept, we have been holding regular meetings at the police station level where the entire staff sits together and brainstorms on issues specific to their jurisdiction. Suggestions and opinions from even the lowest ranking constable are taken to find solutions,” Khopde said.
“And the best part of these weekly meetings is that informal dialogue is encouraged between the rank and file.”
According to senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officials, incorporating the Japanese concepts would not only boost the somewhat demoralised force into action, it would also give the rank and file to work in a more coordinated way and also make them feel committed to the force when given joint responsibility.
But the concepts did have its initial hiccups, says Khopde.
“In the beginning, constables, not used to being heard by seniors, used to be tongue-tied. But as the meetings became a regular feature in their respective police stations, they started opening up and voicing their opinions freely.”
The project, in its first phase, has been started in 14 police stations.
Beginning with counter-terror operations, these meetings dwell on ways to keep close tabs on the communal divide in sensitive areas, widening the informants network, updating records on absconders, tackling increasing robberies, besides everyday street crimes.
Khopde said Mumbai Police’s special branch has also been roped in to share their inputs in specific cases.