open letter to the commissioner of police, dimapur: A plea for smart policing

Madam,
Through the columns, I would like to draw the urgent attention to the daily traffic nightmare unfolding near Dimapur College.
While the citizens appreciate the Dimapur Police’s commitment to enforcing vehicular regulations, the current approach to routine checks in this specific area is highly counterproductive. Every morning, during peak school and college hours, police personnel stop especially heavy vehicles to physically flag down vehicles for routine document verification. Stopping vehicles at this crucial bottleneck brings traffic to a grinding halt, causing immense stress for students rushing to classes and citizens heading to work.
We are living in an era of digital governance. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made vehicle data instantly accessible through the mParivahan and e-Challan systems. Traffic personnel can effortlessly verify a vehicle’s registration and insurance status simply by entering the license plate number into their devices. Why are citizens being forced to suffer through massive traffic jams for manual checks when the exact same information can be tracked digitally without disrupting the flow of traffic?
If the rationale is that physical barricading and manual checking are absolutely necessary, then the focus of these checks is deeply misplaced. If personnel are going to halt traffic, their time and public patience should be utilized to crack down on violations that an app cannot detect.
Physical checks should be strictly targeted at severe offenses that require visual inspection and intervention, such as:
• Apprehending underage drivers who pose a severe risk to public safety.
• Identifying and recovering stolen vehicles.
• Scrutinizing individuals carrying fake or forged driving licenses.
• Penalizing vehicles fitted with unauthorized metal bumpers (crash guards), heavily tinted windows, and illegal flag posts that violate Supreme Court guidelines.
Routine paper checks should be shifted entirely to digital platforms, and any mandatory physical barricading should be reserved for serious safety violations—and ideally conducted outside of the critical morning school window. I urge the Commissionerate of Police to review this deployment strategy. By adopting smart digital policing for routine documents and focusing physical checks on actual safety hazards, the Dimapur Police can enforce the law efficiently while respecting the time and well-being of the public.
Sincerely.
Temsutoshi Jamir
Duncan, Dimapur.