Kerala - Kochi   

Community policing initiative inaugurated

KOCHI: Pageantry and star presence marked the launch of Janamaitri Suraksha Paddhati, a community policing initiative in the city. Actor Suresh Gopi in police uniform, coming straight from a film set at Udayamperoor inaugurated the scheme at Gandhi Nagar.

K. Babu, MLA, inaugurated the project at Palarivattom. He said community policing would help the police overcome the inherent limitations. In his keynote address, K.V. Thomas, MLA, said the city had a big volume of migrant population coming in every day and it was not possible for the police to keep watch on the flow by themselves. Actor Krishna flagged off a colourful rally that started from Palarivattom junction and ended at the police station functioning inside the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.

Caparisoned elephant, schoolchildren, Chenda artistes, Kudumbasree members and representatives of residents associations and merchant community took part in the rally. Mayor Mercy Williams inaugurated the interaction between police and public at Palarivattom police station.

“The change is already visible in the interaction between the police and the public,” said P.P. Antony, a member of the Pallath Road Residents’ Association, Thammanam.

V.K. Ibrahim Kunju, MLA, inaugurated the project at Fort Kochi.

The programme envisages beat officer leading night patrolling in the locality with people’s participation and also being in close interaction with houses coming under each beat.

The beat officer is also expected to coordinate with the private security personnel in the area.

Identifying and keeping track of strangers visiting the locality, preventing drug peddling and atrocities on women and offering protection to the elderly are the other roles outlined for the beat officer. The city police had already evolved a similar system and night patrolling had been effective in checking house-breaks for the last couple of years.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Mulayam to inaugurate meet
Queen Victoria comes calling
Community policing initiative inaugurated
Curbs on movie screening relaxed
Mosquito eradication, waste disposal get priority in budget
Call to extend rehabilitation package to all evictees
NCP seminar in Malappuram
Concern over delay in completion of project
Seminar on waste treatment
Attack on college condemned
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu