11 more stations to back community policing initiatives
BENGALURU: Community policing has been pivotal to police-people partnerships ever since it was introduced in the city three years ago.
So well-received has the initiative been in localities such as JP Nagar, Banaswadi and Yelahanka (Old Town) that the city police has introduced the outreach programme under 11 more police stations, taking the total to 18.
Community policing requires more involved beat policing with constables and their seniors interacting and familiarising themselves with the residents, chiefly through awareness and community programmes.
A plan to bring all city police stations under the initiative is in the pipeline, said City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood.“We are doing this in a phased manner. People of all ages, stating from school children to senior citizens, will be addressed through this programme.“
Police stations that have recently adopted community policing include Mico Layout, Mahadevapura and HSR Layout.
Community policing was introduced in the city in June 2013 as an initiative of the city police in partnership with the nonprofit civic org anisation Janaagraha. It began as a pilot project in seven police stations with an aim to ensure the safety and security of communities.Extending it, however, has taken long because of staff shortages and heavy workloads.
Yet, “more and more police stations are coming forward to be a part of community policing,“ said ST Ramesh, former police chief and now an adviser to Janaagraha. “To make a street or a city crime-free, beat constables are very important. They should visit every household and have a good bonding with the residents. Community policing has to be spread to all the 110 police stations in the city.“
Ramesh also suggested that constables be assigned a beat for a minimum of two years for community policing to be effective.
For Rama Veerabhadrappa, a resident of Yelahanka, community policing has made a big difference. “Because of awareness programmes through community policing, we have come to know about different types of crimes, roles of police, helpline numbers... We have the phone numbers of beat constables and if anything goes wrong, we can immediately call them.“
So well-received has the initiative been in localities such as JP Nagar, Banaswadi and Yelahanka (Old Town) that the city police has introduced the outreach programme under 11 more police stations, taking the total to 18.
Community policing requires more involved beat policing with constables and their seniors interacting and familiarising themselves with the residents, chiefly through awareness and community programmes.
A plan to bring all city police stations under the initiative is in the pipeline, said City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood.“We are doing this in a phased manner. People of all ages, stating from school children to senior citizens, will be addressed through this programme.“
Police stations that have recently adopted community policing include Mico Layout, Mahadevapura and HSR Layout.
Community policing was introduced in the city in June 2013 as an initiative of the city police in partnership with the nonprofit civic org anisation Janaagraha. It began as a pilot project in seven police stations with an aim to ensure the safety and security of communities.Extending it, however, has taken long because of staff shortages and heavy workloads.
Yet, “more and more police stations are coming forward to be a part of community policing,“ said ST Ramesh, former police chief and now an adviser to Janaagraha. “To make a street or a city crime-free, beat constables are very important. They should visit every household and have a good bonding with the residents. Community policing has to be spread to all the 110 police stations in the city.“
Ramesh also suggested that constables be assigned a beat for a minimum of two years for community policing to be effective.
For Rama Veerabhadrappa, a resident of Yelahanka, community policing has made a big difference. “Because of awareness programmes through community policing, we have come to know about different types of crimes, roles of police, helpline numbers... We have the phone numbers of beat constables and if anything goes wrong, we can immediately call them.“
