Janamaithri Police Library

You will have to change your conventional concept about a police station when you are at Hill Palace.It is the first time in the history of Kerala Police that a library for the public is being opened with the intention of changing the conventional concepts regarding a police station.

The Janamaithri Police Library was dedicated to the public by Home Minister Shri.Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on 31.01.2011.

With 6,000 books collected from various voluntary donors that include litterateurs, professors and also ordinary workers, the air-conditioned and computerised library set up in a 900-sq.ft. Hall would be open for the public from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A Professor at Rajagiri College of Engineering, Madhava Panicker, alone has donated 750 books to the library collection.There will be no membership fee to the library; only a photo-identity with the application would be needed. The air-conditioned police library hall is designed atop the police rest room in the Hill Palace Station complex. Besides a vast collection of books, a chess board, carom board and weaving machines are there in the library hall.

There will be people’s participation in the functioning of library. Selected people will be included in the advisory committee of the governing body. Cops will also help in the daily functioning of the library.A computerised catalogue will be installed in the library soon which will enable the public to know about the availability of the books.

The Janamaithri police library set up at the Tripunithura Janamaithri police station, gives a new dimension to community policing.

Global Community Policing Conclave 2010

The two-day Global Community Policing Conclave organised by the Kerala Police in association with the International Police Executive Symposium (IPES) was inaugurated by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on 03.11.2010 at Kochi City.

Major speakers in the two day sessions included David W. Purdy, senior police advisor for the Department of State, U.S.; Arie Van Sluis, assistant professor at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Habil Emil W. Plywaczewski, professor and director, chair of Criminal Law and head of Division of Penal Law and Criminology, University of Bialystok, Poland; Michael M. Berlin, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Coppin State University, U.S. Dilip K. Das, founding president of the International Police Executive Symposium (IPES); Sami Nabhan, head of the Service and Operations Section, and General Mounir Chaaban, head of the Training Section, Internal Security Forces, Lebanon; Muji Diah Setiani, assistant superintendent, and Am Sri Sudaryani Wahyuni, Interpol Police Inspector, Jakarta; Aleksandar Kostovski, International Rule of Law officer, Macedonia; and Shafiullah Walizada and Abdul Gheyas, Interpol Wing, Interior Ministry, Afghanistan, were the other speakers at this session.

Speaking on the first day of the Global Community Policing Conclave 2010, Nicholas Parker, management consultant on Community Safety and Criminal Justice Sectors, United Kingdom, said the community policing experiment in the U.K., which began in the seventies lost momentum after some time. This had to be revived recently.

He made a talk on ‘evolution of community policing in England and Wales' at the first session, which was about ‘historical development of COP'. Dr. Richard H. Ward of the University of New Haven, U.S., made the keynote address on ‘Community Policing: Its relevance today”.

The next session had some interesting moments as police officials and administrators from Afghanistan shared their experience. The theme of the session was ‘comparative COP theory and practice: Varieties of Communities'. The tone was set by Tonita Murray, senior advisor, Ministry of Interior, Afghanistan, with her talk titled “The Elephant, the Mouse and the Ant chase – an Afghan phantom COP'. She chaired the session.

In his address, Mustaq Rahim, Assistant Country Director, United Nations Development Project, said the police need to be civilianised and there was a need to build public awareness on police's traditional roles.

Other speakers in the session were Ahmad Zaki, UNDP Afghan project coordinator; Adbul Basir Yosufi, policy advisor and team leader, Ministerial Policy Unit, Ministry of Interior, Afghanistan; and Doel Mukherjee, consultant, Democratic Policing, UNDP Afghanistan.

Aswhani Kumar, Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, chaired the next session, which was the second in the series of Comparative COP Theory and Practice that focussed on ‘convergence between East and West'.

Speaking about ‘community policing as a tool in combating terrorism', former Director General of the National Investigation Agency and former Special Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir Radhavinod Raju said that formation of Village Defence Committees helped a lot in organising the local communities against terrorists.

The local communities were often used by the terrorists as a cover for insurgency or as observation posts along the border, he said.

In his address, Hermanprit Singh, Inspector General of Police, West Bengal, said that often non-combatants are caught between coercion by militants and distrust by police. Other challenges in policing conflict areas are doing proper impact analysis and risk averseness, which amounts to neglect of core policing.

Ashok Dohare, Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh; T.K. Vinod Kumar, Deputy Director, SVP National Police Academy, Hyderabad, and Arvind Verma, of Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, also made presentations on various aspects of community policing.

Summing up the session, Tejdeep Kaur Menon, Additional Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, observed that community policing should not be made an excuse not to do regular policing. If it so happens, the movement should be wound up without it ending up as a sham.

Chief Minister of Kerala Sri. V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurated the valedictory session on 04.11.2010. Union Minister of State for Home Sri. Mullappally Ramachandran, Home Minister of Kerala Sri.Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and the Director General of Kerala Sri.Jacob Punnoose IPS attended the valedictory session.

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Aspirations (Fight Against Terrorism)

Terrorism is growing in an alarming condition than ever. To combat terrorism activities in the state, Kochi City Police is conducting an aggressive campaign against terrorism, which lasts for a year. Starting from the grass root level, City Police has started an awareness campaign on New Year 2009 and declared 2009 as Anti Terrorism Year.

Aspirations, a Mega campaign by Kochi City Police against terrorism was started by a Mega Event based on National Integration and urging the needs of an anti Terrorism scenario, celebrities from different walks of life united together for this mega campaign. The show was conducted portraying the ill effects of terrorism in an artistic way, by means of Skits, Dance, Songs, Messages and proclaimed the needs of the union of the Kochiites against this massive disaster. People from all walks of life united together to pray for those who were killed in recent times by terrorism activities. A prayer was held in the presence of lighted candle in the hands of all who were present at the show.

“Be vigilant- Report any susceptive Terrorism Activity”:

This was the campaign slogan of Kochi City Police to make people aware of Terrorism.

An anti Terrorism Toll Free Helpline No. 9656000100 was launched on the day for the public for reporting any suspicious terrorist activity. The people were asked to trust their instincts and pass on information about any unusual activity or behavior to the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline number. One phone call could contain a piece of vital information which could help disrupt terrorist planning and save lives. Posters and leaflets against Terrorism proclaiming the ill effects of terrorism was published by Kochi City Police, and distributed among the general public.

A Music Album was also released on the occasion proclaiming the ill effects of terrorism and urging the needs to unite against terrorism, to create a terror free world. This album was later shown in the major residential areas of Kochi City.

Members of the Residential Associations united for the noble cause. Detailed information of the residents of each area was collected by the Residential Association members and handed over to Police from time to time.

There was active support from print and channel media and also from the FM Radios to run the massive campaign advertisements seeking to raise awareness of some of the items/activities which may be needed by, or be of use to, terrorists. Anti Terrorism Campaign Hoardings was put up in the main junctions of the city.

Each month, analysis meetings are conducted with officials and representatives from all sectors of the society for analyzing the status quo of the conditions prevailing in the city and will also discuss of the security measures.

Janamaithri Suraksha Paddhathi ( Ensure Safety and Security of the Community with active co-operation of Public)

Statistics pointed out that Kochi City topped the list of number of cognizable crime recorded under the Special and Local Law (SLL). In 2006, the number of cases recorded under the SLL in the city was 10,557, compared to other neighboring districts.

For tackling this, a new initiative which is being introduced state level was first implemented in Kochi city. The project is named Janamaithri Suraksha Paddhathi

This project has the security of the community as its prime objective and the effort of the department would be to achieve this with people’s participation and closer liaison between the police and the general public.

This project has been implemented in four police stations in Kochi City i.e Palarivattom Police Station, Kadavanthra Police station, Fort Kochi Police Station and Hill palace police station .

Specially trained beat officers were posted in these police stations. Each beat officer is covering 500 houses or three square kilometre area, whichever is less, on a regular basis and is in touch with each home under their jurisdiction.

The beat officer is leading night patrolling in the locality with people’s participation, coordinating with the private security guards in the area, identifying and keeping a track of strangers visiting the locality, helping to prevent drug peddling and atrocities on women and is also offering protection to the elderly. Each beat officer has been given a motorbike and a mobile phone.

Problems, that cannot be solved at the level of the beat officer is referred to the higher officers at the local police station or SHOs. Popular committees, with an approximate membership of 10, have been formed in each police station limits. The committees will be playing the role of facilitators and will not have any role in maintenance of law and order. The progress of the scheme is being reviewed every three months.

Apart from. this Janamythri Ambulance service for the accident victims/medical emergencies, free houses for the poor, free uniform and school bags for the children, free medical camp was also launched as a part of community policing.

JANAMITHRI AMBULANCE & SEWING MECHINS

Police-Manpower Association Action Programme

This is one of the most unique schemes to check visa cheating cases which used to be rampant in Kochi City. Under this scheme an action group was formed by the police and the Manpower Exporters’ Association to check fake overseas recruitment and this includes the Protector of Emigrants (PoE). Since the formation of the action group, the number of

cheating cases registered in connection with fake overseas recruitment has come down 70 per cent. By including the PoE, the Police were able to effectively coordinate all aspects regarding overseas recruitment and check instances of cheating right at the beginning. The group has the Commissioner of Police as chairman. Earlier, the police acted only on receiving cases of cheating. Now, we can impart awareness among the public regarding overseas recruitment and also crosscheck genuineness of the claims made by recruiting agencies. The new action group meets every month and review the work. At the same time, the group members will be in constant touch. Whenever a case is reported, it is referred to the group for further action. This saves time in processing

cases, especially those involving foreign recruitment agencies. Whereas the official channel will take much time to crosscheck the credentials of these agencies, the group members can contact their counterparts in respective countries and verify facts in no time. The action group was reconstituted with a view to sorting out issues faced by manpower exporters. “The action group has effectively sorted out more than 200 cases and that is one main reason in the sharp decline in the number of cases.

The programme has been a major success in ensuring a good image on police among the public. The Positive image earned by the Police will be further strengthened and the objective of making the police force more community oriented and bringing the policing to the doorsteps of the public can be strengthened by such a campaign.

Foriegners Welfare Scheme

Kochi City is the major hub of tourists and the commercial capital of Kerala and so is a host to the maximum member of Foreign Nationals from around the globe, for a variety of reasons such as Tourism, Business, Medical Treatment, Education, Employment etc. Due to this fact, the City Police has devised a special scheme under the “PRIDE” Programme for the welfare of Foreigners visiting the City. The programme was implemented with the active cooperation and participation of the Hoteliers Association of Kochi. The major steps implemented under the scheme are as follows.

• Distribution of pamphlet notices to the Foreign Nationals at the Airport itself on various rules and regulations regarding Visa/Registration etc.
• Establishment of police Aid Post at the Airport and Medical College to aid the Foriegners in sorting out the various problems of hire charges and exorbitant medical fees.
• The Police Tourist Cell to provide information on various aspects such as places of lodging, correct Hotel rates, standard rates on medical treatment etc.
• The Police Cell to perform as a complaint redressal forum were the Forigners can also submit the petitions on various aspects to the police, which would be disposed on a war footing.
• Establishment of a direct fax and Email service with the Special Branch and various Hotels for immediate transfer of information on C forms and other registration matters related to Foreigners.
• All these steps has ensured that the Foreign Nationals who come to Kochi City get a more safer and secure atmosphere, while they are in City and also their welfare in various aspects is ensured. The police also on the other hand get all the information on the foreigners visiting the City, so that the general security of the place is not compromise.

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