GUWAHATI - The three-day All India Police Science Congress, which ended here Wednesday, has favoured outsourcing non-core tasks to private agencies and separating law and order from investigations in the metros.

'Now the police have to serve the summons issued by courts to the accused. This act leads to putting too much pressure on the already overburdened police force and hence a decision to ask for outsourcing of some tasks,' said K. Koshy, director general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

'We have decided to implement the process of separating law and order from investigations in metropolitan cities with a population of more than 1 million,' he said.

'We would also examine and see the success rate of the process already implemented in some states.'

Another important decision taken at the Police Congress was to set up a mechanism to evaluate the performance of the police force.

Meghalaya Governor R.S. Mooshahary, addressing the valedictory function as the chief guest, said despite the best efforts to separate law and order from investigations, the system would continue to exist in rural areas.

'Most of the police stations continue to be understaffed and hence it would be difficult to separate law and order from investigations,' the governor said.

Mooshahary, a former director general of the paramilitary Border Security Force, said compared to other states, the Assam police force finds itself in a more complex web.

'The challenges before the Assam police are immense as they have to tackle infiltration, insurgency, students' agitation, and many more problems and hence police in Assam are more burdened than other states,' the governor said.