Mumbai: Mumbai Police’s initiative of maintaining a diary of the”good work” accomplished by it every day has had a positive result — more ‘positive’ work is being done by cops. Every police station has now started keeping a written record of every instance of its policemen being good Samaritans. This includes helping senior citizens, getting them medical help, rescuing animals or birds, to list a few. A senior police officer told The Free Press Journal, a proper maintenance of records of good deeds motivates the personnel to do more good for others. “We always strive to do as much good work as we can do and a diary helps us track, follow-up and ensure the good deeds keep pouring in,” he said, requesting confidentiality.
When a policeman does a good deed on any given day, not only is his name recorded in the diary, but he/she also gets recognition in the form of a certificate or is awarded a prize at the monthly, quarterly or annual crime conferences held by top-ranking police officers, said Mumbai Commissioner of Police (CP) Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, while addressing the audience at an award function hosted by the Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC). The initiative, which was kicked off in mid-2017, has involved diary-keeping in all 93 police stations of the city. This initiative comes at a time when most people would rather record an unfolding incident on their cell phones, rather than rush to assist the distressed party, so it is all the more welcome. The city’s finest are proving that they can be bravehearts or golden hearts, as the occasion demands.
On August 29, 2017, when the rain gods showered havoc in the city, bringing it to a standstill, a traffic police constable, Chetan Kadam, was one among the 3,000-odd traffic constables who held up the city up, so to speak, even as the waters rose and kept rising. Kadam, single-handedly put away the barricades at Nagpada Junction, which had been set afloat on the roads, causing traffic and road blocks. Apart from clearing the traffic, Kadam helped over 100 people reach home safely, including a lost lost eight-year-old and a senior citizen.When he headed back to the traffic police chowky at ten in the night, having spent about 14 hours in the rain, he says he couldn’t recognise his feet. “They were all white, pale, and so wrinkled, it was scary,” he recollects.