Police stations take awareness display route to boost people friendly image

BHUBANESWAR: Taking a step further in their bid to present a people-friendly image, the police stations in the Capital City have started painting the walls of their premises with messages for those coming to lodge their grievances.The walls and premises of the police stations are now used by various telecom service providers to advertise about themselves.

While advertisements are painted on the walls, in some cases, the firms also instal electronic boards.
Sensing a scope to promote public awareness through such advertisements, Khandagiri police station exhorted a telecom firm to display such messages at the company’s cost.The firm agreed and several messages for creating awareness among the visitors were painted on the walls of the police station. The messages are written in Odia for commonman’s understanding.

Some of the messages on public interests are giving way to an ambulance while commuting on the roads, rushing an accident victim to a nearby hospital, remaining aware and alert to curb crime, wearing helmets and obeying traffic rules.Besides seeking cooperation from the people for getting necessary assistance, the police have advised them to use double locks in the two-wheelers, not to keep any valuables in the luggage box and to give priority to senior citizens.

“We attend several tensed visitors daily and the motive behind painting such messages is to remove their apprehensions and create awareness among them,” Khandagiri police station inspector-in-charge Himanshu Bhusan Swain said.“On an average, about 250 persons visit Khandagiri police station everyday, and we hope that these messages will help promote public awareness,” he added.

Taking a leaf out of Khandagiri police station, Commissionerate Police is now planning to get the walls of other police stations painted with similar public interest messages.“We are thinking of instructing other police stations in the City to display public messages on the premises and a decision will be taken in this regard accordingly,” Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi told The Express.There are several police stations in the City having sizeable areas and their extensive boundaries can be used for such messages.