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Friendly police at neighbourhood Law & order

Community policing is being given a facelift in the city from September. The new system will be more structured, with policemen visiting the neighbourhoods daily.

In the present version, though police personnel coordinate activities with residents’ associations of a locality, it is not done regularly.

Kozhikode City Assistant Commissioner of Police (Narcotics) Vinod Mathew George, who is the coordinator of the Community Police Scheme, said that all the 14 police stations would be converted into Community Policing Resource Centres (CPRC). While the Station House Officer manages the CPRC, head constables and constables would be on village beats daily. Depending on the density of population and geographical location, each CPRC would have four to five village beats, he said.

As per the scheme, police personnel on village beats will solve issues at a neighbourhood with the help of Community Liaison Groups (CLG) consisting of 12 to 15 residents of an area. Cases which cannot be handled at local level will be taken up with the higher-ups, Mr. George said.

A three-day training programme was imparted to police personnel drawn from each police station in the city last week, he said.

The system will also witness a monthly meeting of CLGs at the police stations. The minutes of these meeting will be recorded and kept as a register at police stations. Officers in the ranks of Deputy Superintendents of Police and above will regularly monitor the register and the action taken on issues, he said.

Mr. George said that the new method of policing would eliminate corruption to a large extent since the public would not have to go to a police station to file a complaint. Besides, the policemen on village beats will be at a particular area for at least three years. They will be familiar with the residents. Further, with the introduction of new system the main duty of constables will be village beats, he said.

The selection of CLG members is also important for the successful implementation of the scheme. Homemakers, retired Government employees, journalists, office-bearers of social and voluntary organisations, lawyers, slum dwellers, principals of schools and colleges among others are eligible to become members of CLGs.

Activists of political parties, office-bearers of trade unions, persons who have criminal background and accused convicted in cases cannot become members of CLGs. A person can be a member of CLG for three years. He/she can be selected for another three years after a gap of two years, he said.

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