Chandigarh, May 24: Chandigarh's residents now need not think twice about visiting police stations. Gone are the days of harassment, as Chandigarh Police has acquired ISO certification, which reflects the kind of quality service being delivered.

Chandigarh Police recently earned the distinction of giving ISO certification to eleven police stations.

It happened following a recent successful exercise of instituting a special squad of tourist-friendly cops.

All 11 police stations were awarded ISO 9001:2000 certificate in March 2008.

The achievement could be attributed to the top brass for injecting public service oriented professionalism in the force. The certification gives Chandigarh Police an opportunity to boast about a quality service that delivers optimum service to its clients.

Modi International, the designated agency for certification, carried out extensive survey and conducted a thorough audit of all the operations before granting the ISO certification.

"Chandigarh Police started this initiative last year and the whole exercise took almost a year. On March 31, after the visit of the certifying agency Modi International, all of our 11 Police Station have been ISO certified. Initially, we just had one ISO certified police station, which was the Sector 17 Police Station. It's unique to have all the 11 Police Stations in Chandigarh as ISO certified," said S. S. Srivastava, the Senior Superintendent of Police in Chandigarh.

Explaining about the significance of ISO certification for Chandigarh Police, Srivastava said:

"Basically this means that we have achieved the minimum standards required for certification and it's a starting point for us. We have to maintain these standards and then go beyond that which includes services, form for standardisation and protocol that has been laid down. There will be a review every year and accordingly we'll move on."

All the police stations here maintain standardised policy and procedures, which include world-class infrastructure and cleanliness as the prime priorities.

Separate rooms have been arranged for all investigating officers. There is accessibility to multiple records for both the officers and the public while visiting a police station to avail any kind of service.

Moreover, transparency of operations has been given a complete new meaning due to the ISO certification.

Top brass like the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and Inspector General of Police (IG) can monitor things close circuit cameras installed in every important area of the police stations.

This step is to encourage and develop healthy operational traits among the police personnel.

A system has been established to promote a healthy police-public interaction and get a feedback for regular analysis of efforts made.

"The service is very good. The moment you dial 100 you will see a police vehicle arriving at the spot within five minutes. I don't know how they manage to do so. With this kind of service what else can you ask for?," said Rajiv Bedi, a resident.

Also, there is an attitudinal change among the policemen and the services rendered by them following a streamlined system and technical changes made.

Chandigarh Police is today in a condition to offer consultancy services to police force in other parts of the country. Many other States have reportedly evinced interest in sharing the experience of Chandigarh Police.

"Of course, I don't have much experience working in an ISO certified police station except in Chandigarh where all the Police Stations are ISO certified. Places like Jaipur and Haryana are trying to catch up with the standards. But at present only Chandigarh Police has ISO certificates for all the police stations," said Madhur Sharma, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Central), Chandigarh. (ANI)