Lodging a police complaint could become as easy as making an ATM withdrawal for residents if a police plan sees the light of day.

Senior police officers of Patna held a meeting with representatives of a Chandigarh-based company on Tuesday to discuss modalities for installation of an automated teller machine (ATM)-like kiosk in the city to lodge complaints. A demonstration was later presented before director-general of police P.K. Thakur.

If the 'instant complaint loggingInternet kiosk' initiative is cleared, residents can write, type or record their grievance there and it would be forwarded to the police station concerned.

A senior officer at the police headquarters said the kiosks would be installed at five to seven places, particularly near malls, in the first phase. The webcam-fitted kiosks would be connected to the control room. So, once a complaint is received at the kiosk, it would be forwarded to the police station. Like ATMs, the kiosks would dispense receipts to the complainants.

Senior superintendent of police Jitender Rana said: 'The instant complaint logging Internet kiosks would be helpful even for those people who are illiterate and unable to submit their complaints in writing. There would be a video camera to record statements. The clip of the audio-visual complaint would go to the control room and again to the police station concerned.'

Last year, the police had provided residents the facility to lodge complaints on its official website. Later, it was extended to mobile phone users. Station house officers were asked to give FIR numbers and updates on the cellphone number registered at the time of the complaint. Recently, the option to lodge complaints over the popular text messaging application, WhatsApp, was also introduced. 'Now, residents can just walk into an ATM-like kiosk in their neighbourhood and narrate their complaints before the video camera or submit a written complaint. There is no need to visit a police station,' said an IPS officer.

Rana added: 'An audio-visual complaint will be converted into an FIR and the complainant will receive an acknowledgement and updates on the investigation.'

He said the initiative was aimed at instilling confidence among people, especially women, who hesitate to visit police stations to lodge formal complaints.

P.B. Shyam, a representative of the Chandigarh company, said each kiosk would cost anything between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh. Such kiosks are already operating in Bhubaneswar and Bangalore, he added.