Janamaithri Suraksha Project and other Community Policing Models in India

Janamaithri Suraksha Project was launched in 2008 as a flagship community policing project in Kerala. Objectives of this project include prevention of crimes, furthering co-operation and mutual understanding between police and community and furthering mutual co-operation among citizenry.

How the scheme is implemented?

Janamaithri Suraksha Samithi is implemented at police station level. The District Police Superintendent is entitled to constitute a samithi, while taking care that such samiti has proportionate representation from among women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Respectable citizens with active participation in educational and cultural field are also to be included in the samithi. Samithi should have minimum 10 and maximum 25 members, out of which one member would be nominated as Convener. The Samithi is mandated to meet at least once in a month, in which the public residing in the area can give suggestions to the samithi members. Projects are discussed and chosen as per the need are implemented. Some typical examples of projects are:

• Night patrolling with public co-operation
• Coordinating with private security guards
• Knowing new residents and strangers
• Fitting Burglar Alarm and security systems
• Helping senior citizens and physically challenged citizens
• Protection of women and children
• Awareness programmes
• Traffic Warden Systems
• Organizing Counseling centers to resolve family discords, drinking habits etc.

Janamaithri Beat

A local area consisting of around 500 houses is considered as a Janamaithri Beat Unit. It was mandated that one Beat area should not exceed 3 Square Kilometers. A Beat Officer should be able to cover a ‘Janamaithri Beat’ within a few hours’ time. The main idea is when a Post Man could cover his beat area daily, a Beat Officer should also be able to cover his beat area completely during a day’s duty.

Success of the scheme

There was a great degree of acceptance for the project that it got widely implemented. The Irinjalakuda police station won ISO certification for the project. The main factor which contributed to the success of the project is that it was not imposed from above without any consultation process. Schemes and projects were thoroughly discussed before implementation.

Project ASWAS, Assam

ASWAS is a community policing model implemented in Assam in the wake of ULFA insurgency. Its objective is to turn the children, mostly orphans, as a useful citizen. This project strictly is not a community policing project but has been an effort to transform the image of police and facilitate the community-city interaction in critical police tasks.

Area Suraksha Mitra

This initiative is implemented in Karnataka by an NGO called Janagraha in association with the city police.

Saanjh Kendras

This is an initiative of the Punjab government. Community policing centres across the state have been opened to the effective redressal of the grievances of the public. Its aim is to make state police “citizen friendly”. The Saanjh Kendras have been constructed separately from police stations and these kendras are manned by personnel who are dressed in civil and corporate-style dresses. It’s worth note here that the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) has praised the efforts of the Punjab Police in reaching the public through its Community Policing initiatives.