By Praveen Dixit, IPS (Retd)
@PraveenDixitIPS
Mumbai: The paper presents a unique model of Police Mitra involving people in association with police in educating the people about measures to be taken to live a risk-free life. It advocates police people relations improve when police trust people and involve them in discharging the responsibility of adopting modern ways of life.
In maintenance and strengthening of internal security, police play a pivotal role. Police can be effective when they win the trust of the people. There are different models to achieve this objective. According to classical theory, police should do their job as directed by the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other Central and State laws enacted from time to time. As per this model, police should be confined to the registration of offences, investigation of the same and submitting the charge-sheet to courts.
To supervise effective supervision of police officers, the colonial masters had created the scheme of District Superintendent (SP) of Police who was under the District Magistrate (DM). In three major cities, namely Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, there were Commissioners of Police (CP). This model suited the British where they wanted the police machinery to perpetuate the British Rule by suppressing the aspirations of the people and at the same time, ensure some façade of law and order, maintenance of laws, detection of crimes about life and property. In this scheme, police were the agents of the dictators and the role envisaged that the public remains fearful of the colonial masters and anyone voicing different concerns was effectively neutralised. As long as the British ruled India, this model worked well but had started showing cracks as the freedom movement like a peaceful mass struggle as well as violent actions by many freedom fighters kept on erupting and puncturing the efficiency of the British rule.
Also Read: Measures to improve the conviction rate in Prevention of Corruption Cases
Another model for police-public relations is available in countries such as Japan and Singapore. In this model, in a given police station, different areas are allotted to specific police officers. In Japan, the said police officer then visits each household under his charge once in six months, maintains a detailed record of their requirements, and keeps on assisting them as and when required. If he comes across any aberrations, he advises the concerned and is expected to enforce the laws. The society members are highly disciplined, law-abiding and the number of such persons is limited.
In Singapore as well, similar arrangements are available and the police maintain detailed accounts of persons living in their area. The responsibility of prevention of crimes as well as maintenance of law and order is thus effectively on police and the public are expected to abide by their directions strictly. In this model as well, the responsibility of preventing crime and maintenance of law and order continues to be that of police officers and men. In many parts of India as well, particularly where the Commissioner of Police is working, they have tried to introduce the beat system, though it is not as effective in Singapore.
An effort is made to constitute a ‘mohalla committee’ (also called peace committee) where a few prominent persons with different backgrounds are enrolled. Members of this committee are called once in a while by the police officers and they are called upon to ask their followers to maintain peace. Mostly the meetings witness accusations by the members against each other or police. In short, no purpose is achieved by forming these committees either in promoting police public relations or maintaining law and order.
Israel implements another model for police public relations. Many persons above the age of forty years register their names with nearby police stations as volunteers. They are provided with small weapons and work for police twice a week and wear a jacket inscribed as police volunteers. Use of firearms by these volunteers is considered legal and they enjoy almost all powers of police. They are trained by police but they are not paid for the work done by them.
In analysing these models and taking into account historical, social, legal, and economic situations in India, we have to create a model which would suit Indian conditions and address the requirements of modern India, which is having demography surplus and is dominated by youth. At the same time, several people including ladies are socially committed and aspire to promote peace, tranquillity and law and order in their areas. Many elderly people are physically fit and intend to participate actively in police duties. Considering all these aspects, a model was conceived and details are mentioned in the following lines.
5. Esmon J. Milton in his book ‘Dimensions of Development: Perspectives and Strategies’ (Kumarian Press 1991) writes, “The formula (for service provision) is one of pragmatic pluralism in which the state establishes and enforces the rules, but at the level of operations it performs as one of many actors participating in the production and provision of economic and social goods and services.” This principle is followed in many sectors such as controlling pandemic like Corona (Covid 19), where health workers from corporates, private sector as well as public sector joined hands in reducing the devastating impact of the virus. Similarly, in eliminating polio from the continent, several voluntary organisations, health workers, teachers and civil society forged their differences and have succeeded in eliminating this menace.
In the educational sector as well, many corporates, voluntary organisations, youth, international bodies have come forward to reduce child labour by ensuring universal education in India. The success stories of many other sectors can be also repeated to emphasise the point that when many actors participate, the chances of success are brighter.
6. While there is no hesitation in taking help from all sectors in addressing these societal requirements, how it is that the same principle is rejected in maintaining peace and tranquillity which is crucial for development. There is an element of distrust against your citizens. The colonial powers have trained the police officers to suspect everyone as a criminal, everyone is considered as a person who is cheating and is going to take disadvantage if he is associated with maintenance of law and order, which is considered as a symbol of State authority and sovereignty. This is typical thinking in a dictatorship such as British Raj in India. On the other hand, in the UK itself, every citizen is believed to be working for promoting the Royal interests and therefore police have no hesitation in confiding with the British people even confidential information with the neighbours to track a criminal or even a terrorist.
7. In the light of the above mentioned theoretical background, when I worked as Commissioner of Police, Nagpur City from 2008 to 2010, I made an experiment by launching the following scheme in the city for improving police-public relations. Every police station was encouraged to actively involve local adult persons of all age groups from all religions, castes, and languages, male as well as females, to join hands with police in various duties.
List of volunteers was prepared and the same was scrutinised to weed out who may be having any criminal background. Training programs were organised for these volunteers in various subjects including preventing rumours, isolating suspicious objects which may contain a bomb, identifying missing children at bus stands and railway station, helping lonely senior citizens, identifying strangers who may be loitering in any area with ulterior motives, assisting children who conflict with the law (juveniles), traffic duties at peak hours and in areas near schools and colleges.
They were trained in managing huge fares, immersion processions, public meetings, regulating vehicle movement at crowded places and markets besides making public announcements. Whenever police were doing patrolling, the local volunteers accompanied them and boosted their morale as well as enhanced their striking capacity. The youth who participated in these duties actively were given a certificate of participation in promoting a social cause.
This proved very helpful to them when they appeared for an interview for a job to establish their credibility. Apart from generating enthusiasm, the net result was bridging the communication gap between the local police officers and the public at large. The street level crimes reduced by more than 15 per cent. In many serious crimes, these volunteers helped police actively in tracking the criminals by providing accurate information. Most importantly, these volunteers played a crucial role in educating the people about preventive measures in safeguarding their household property, their children, as well as in new areas such as cyber security, economic offences and bank frauds.
8. The scheme is completely different from vigilantism. In vigilantism, vigilantes act independently. As against the same, in the scheme under discussion, police volunteers known as police Mitra performed various tasks only under strict guidance and supervision of policemen. They did not do any duty independently. This ensured that no untoward incidents take place in the name of police Mitra and no one working as police Mitra misbehaves or takes disadvantage of his/her association with law enforcing agencies.
9. It needs to be emphasised that this model also ensured that the complaints of non-registration of various offences at police stations almost disappeared as the police volunteers were almost always present in police stations or nearby areas when any complainant came to the police station. Moreover, even serious incidents such as destroying of a dead body after the murder which was not reported came to light, because of the police Mitra who acted as whistle-blowers.
Similarly, incidents of corruption also reduced as the police working became more transparent. Significant fallout was that there were no complaints of use of third-degree by policemen from any police station. Not even a single incident of custodial death was reported during these two years and hence there was no need to punish any policeman for dereliction of duty on account of these serious lapses.
Hardly any law and order situation developed. Mention needs to be made of a few interesting incidents. Moreover, as cities keep on growing rapidly in distant places, police stations are not increased at the same speed. However, presence police Mitra in these areas ensured that criminals were under constant watch. It also helped in reducing the threat of terrorist activities, which grow in areas where there is no police presence.
10. The use of the concept can be amplified if a few incidents are narrated. In April 2009, it was reported that the statue of Bharat Ratna Dr, Babasaheb Ambedkar was disfigured by miscreants. Angered by this humiliation, a huge crowd consisting of members of scheduled caste gathered near the statue and was about to be violent. The crowd insisted on the immediate arrest of the culprits, though nobody knew who that might be. A strong contingent of armed police was deployed. However, if police had resorted to using of force, there were chances that the entire city would have been held to ransom and incidents of arson and violence would have spread in far off areas.
At such a critical time, one elderly lady coming from scheduled caste stepped out and volunteered to help the police. With folded hands, she faced the angry crowd and appealed to them to disperse and allow the police to track the culprits by undertaking the investigation. She said, ‘I am police Mitra and trust me. Police would discharge their job sincerely. All of you leave this place now and permit the police officers to do their job.’ What a contingent of armed policemen could not do, was achieved by the frail police lady friend. Within no time the crowd dispersed peacefully. Police tracked down the culprits and a major incident of law and order was averted successfully.
11. In another incident, around 10.30 at night, it was reported that in a remote place, a reputed doctor and wife were assaulted severely. When police reached the spot, an illiterate person who used to work as Police Mitra had tied a person to a pillar in his hut, removed a knife in his hand carefully and informed nearby police station & waited anxiously for policemen. He told the police, this person’s wife works as a nurse in the clinic of the doctor. He was suspicious of the doctor. After getting drunk, he assaulted the doctor and his wife who was also a doctor. At that time, the friend of the police intervened caught him with a knife and tied him to a pillar in the hut. Friend of police also ensured that the injured doctor couple was sent to the hospital and then he reported the matter to the police station nearby.
12. On one day, an auto-rickshaw dashed against an elderly person who was working as a friend of the police to regulate the traffic. He was admitted to the hospital. After he recovered, he was determined to work at the same place to regulate the traffic, as he considered it his duty to help police. This underlines the fact that people get so much motivated to help police in discharging their duty if the police trust them. Even ladies used to participate in night patrolling along with policemen on bicycles.
13. Encouraged by this spirit found among the citizens, when I took over as Director-General of Police (DGP), in 2015, I decided to implement the scheme of Police Mitra in Maharashtra leaving Mumbai city. Initially, training was organised for senior officers and Police Inspectors to explain the salient features of the scheme. This was welcome by one and all.
Within no time more than two hundred thousand ladies and gents belonging to various age groups, from all religions, came forward to be volunteers to work with police free of cost. They were provided with a cap with inscription as police Mitra and an armband when they came forward to work with the police. The response was tremendous from almost all places. A strict watch was kept on these volunteers to ensure no misuse is made by anyone. No identity cards were issued to anyone to avoid any wrong use of the same. Throughout the year, there were no incidents or complaints against anybody who worked as Police Mitra.
In the state as well, the incidents of assault against vulnerable sections including members of scheduled caste and tribe reduced by more than ten per cent. Incidents of chain snatching, robberies, reduced drastically. Overall the objective of preventing crime as well as maintaining the law and order was achieved very well when the cooperation of people was sought.
Several Muslim youths that were radicalised and were about to join the ISIS, could be retrieved and returned to normalcy. The parents of the youth were thankful to the police for saving these youngsters from sure death. The best part of the scheme was that it was driven following the directions given from state headquarters, with fine-tuning of local requirements.
In coastal areas, these police Mitra worked for coastal security. In rural areas, they did patrol to prevent armed robberies. In city areas, they worked to promote communal harmony, regulate traffic, and manage huge mobs on special occasions such as Ganapati and Navratri festivals which witnessed crowds that were difficult to be controlled only by using policemen.
Moreover, this police Mitra was available day and night as per the requirement of local police station Inspector. They did not ask for any leave or any monetary compensation. They were highly motivated people interested in promoting national security. These police Mitra took an active part in educating the public at large on behalf of the police in promoting measures such as cyber security, preventing economic offences, preserving property, the security of children, elderly citizens and other vulnerable sections and strengthening the security of women.
They prepared short videos, wrote scripts, poems and uploaded these on YouTube and other social media. They came forward in preparing apps to facilitate quick response in times of emergency.
These measures helped police on concentrating on their core activities such as investigation and presenting the evidence before courts, while police Mitra performed the role of assisting police in peripheral activities. The net result was that the police public relations were at the best throughout when the scheme operated. Details of the scheme were presented to Hon. Prime Minister and Hon. Home Minister of India during the annual conference of Ds.G.P. held at Rann of Kutch in 2015. The same was appreciated.
14. Limitation of the scheme is that the scheme can continue only if senior police officers show interest in the same. The scheme is entirely dependent on how the senior officers consider it. If the senior officer is not in favour of it, the scheme is ill-fated. The local people keep on requesting the continuation of the scheme, but it doesn’t get activated if senior officers are reluctant.
Otherwise, it does not involve any amendments to existing laws and does not have any financial implications for the treasury. Junior officers at various places have continued to implement the scheme individually but there is a need to have support from the senior officers as well as from the government. The scheme would be sustainable when it is continued for a long period under the able supervision of senior police officers.
If the government of India or any state government desires, it can launch the same as it is most desirable in winning the confidence of the people and imperative in the creation of modern democratic India. States such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Railway Police are reportedly implementing it. The scheme has the potential to satisfy the aspirations of the people effectively and promises that people and police together can ensure peace and promote development with the active participation of all stakeholders.
There is no better way of improving police public relations than the implementation of the above model in India. This change in the attitude of senior police officers is the most important software to usher police reforms in the direction of pro-people policies. The scheme needs to be made part of the police training programs at all levels.
Enclosures: 1) video 2) photos 3) case study 4) Police Mitra Guide
Address to Police Mitra at Thane City: (https://twitter.com/praveendixitips/status/1330536939481669633?s=24).
Police Mitra in action at Vardha:
ii) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LjFvAXgLFWZ0441uc5vyD6ZA8wk- VDlp/view?usp=sharing
Presentation on Police Mitra at National Police Academy: Case Study at Dhule https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PJhd4OcyYq-Bc9n7pJwZTBDUb6bebr5b/view?usp=sharing
Police Mitra Scheme Guide:
About the author: Praveen Dixit is DGP (Retired), Maharashtra
