In one police station in each district, law & order duty to split from probe

New Delhi: Moving closer towards completely dissociating the responsibility of police personnel to maintain law and order from their investigation duties, the Delhi Police brass has asked all DCPs to implement this separation of roles at one police station in their respective districts.For several years, Delhi Police has been experimenting with this decoupling on a pilot basis at a couple of police stations. With every district now asked to simultaneously roll out the model on a limited scale, indications are that the initiative may be implemented in the near future across all police stations in the city.The move aims to assess positive effects on investigations, if any, once cops are freed from their law-and-order duties, a police source said, adding that challenges encountered in the process will be documented for corrective action. "One of the districts has already given positive feedback after implementing this approach at a police station," the source said.In existing policing structures, the dual burden of maintaining public order and conducting thorough criminal investigations often falls upon the same set of officers. This overlapping responsibility frequently leads to them ending up firefighting, with the urgency of daily-law-and order duties like managing protests, VIP security and patrolling overshadow the more patient and methodical work required to conduct probes."Separating these two functions is not merely an administrative tweak; it is a fundamental pillar of police reforms," said a retired senior cop. "The primary advantage of having a dedicated investigative wing is the professionalisation of the force. Criminal investigation is an increasingly scientific and intellectual endeavour. Shielding investigators from the unpredictable schedule of duties on the streets will result in them focusing more on forensics, evidence collection and witness protection," the former officer said.This specialisation directly correlates with higher conviction rates as cases can be built on forensic rigour rather than just oral testimony, which often crumbles during long trials.Also, the separation of duties fosters greater accountability and trust, essential to transform police from a "force" that manages the public into a "service" that delivers justice. When officers are not constantly pulled away for crowd control, they can provide victims with a more consistent point of contact, reducing the "delay and decay" of evidence that's inevitable when a case file changes hands multiple times."It also reduces political interference. Law-and-order situations are often reactive to a political climate, whereas investigation should be a neutral, objective pursuit of the truth," said an investigator.Despite these benefits, and a Supreme Court directive issued in favour of this separation of policing functions in the Prakash Singh vs Union of India case in 2006, its implementation has remained sluggish. "The most significant hurdle is a chronic shortage of personnel. Many police stations are so understaffed that bifurcation of duties exists only on paper — an officer may be assigned to a murder case in the morning and sent to handle a traffic blockade in the afternoon," an ACP-rank officer said."There is also a risk of creating silos. Effective policing often requires the law-and-order wing to provide intelligence or manpower for arrests, while the investigative wing shares data on emerging crime patterns. If inter-departmental communication channels are not robust, this separation can lead to friction or jurisdictional disputes," the officer added. The transition requires a massive investment in infrastructure and specialised training to ensure that the new investigative cadre make up a department of experts and not just a wing of the existing force that has been renamed.