KOCHI: The launch of Kerala police’s ‘My Police Station’ initiative has raised questions over how it differs from the Janamaithri Suraksha Project, with both aimed at improving police-public relations.
Officials, however, say the initiatives address different aspects of policing: while Janamaithri takes policing into the community, My Police Station seeks to make the police station more accessible and citizen-friendly.
State police chief Ravada A Chandrasekhar told TNIE,, “Janamaithri reaches out; My Police Station opens up.”
“Janamaithri is a project. It is basically community policing, where policing activities are taken closer to the community. My Police Station, on the other hand, seeks to inculcate a sense of pride and responsibility among police personnel: a feeling that this is my responsibility,” he said. It also seeks to make citizens feel that the police station belongs to them and that they have the right to approach it and access its services, he said.
Ravada clarified that there is no separate category called a “Janamaithri police station”. “Janamaithri was a project implemented in 2008. The Janamaithri Suraksha Project continues as a community-policing initiative focused on the public.”
The distinction becomes clearer in the way the two initiatives engage with citizens, said Thiruvananthapuram Police Commissioner Arul R B Krishna. “Janamaithri is more about police going outside the station as part of beat patrolling, reaching out to people, understanding their activities and issues and involving themselves in community welfare,” he said.
“My Police Station, on the other hand, focuses on improving the experience of citizens who actually enter a police station. Many stations already have facilities such as women’s help desks, differently abled and health desks and legal assistance, but people may not be sufficiently aware of them,” he said.
The new initiative seeks to make such services more visible and accessible so that ordinary citizens can obtain them without having to depend on someone else. Better reception facilities and a feedback mechanism are also envisaged.
Under the latter, citizens will be able to scan a code and submit feedback, which can be accessed by the police chiefs concerned. “This would allow complaints about the behaviour of police personnel to reach senior officers directly,” Arul said.
Kochi Commissioner Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar said Janamaithri activities are already being carried out across police stations, with beats and related programmes continuing.
“All police stations are Janamaithri police stations in the sense that Janamaithri beats and related activities are being carried out. My Police Station is about changing the way people approach a police station,” he said.
While the conceptual distinction between the two initiatives may be clear, former DGP Alexander Jacob pointed to the practical constraints facing the police. Kerala has around 64,000 police personnel, while about 16 lakh cases were registered in the state last year, he said.
There are limits to the amount of work police personnel can undertake, Jacob said, adding that frequent transfers also affect continuity. A newly posted officer may take around three months to fully understand the functioning of a police station, he noted.
Many stations already have facilities such as women’s help desks, differently abled and health desks and legal assistance, but people may not be sufficiently aware of them. The new initiative seeks to make such services more visible and accessible so that ordinary citizens can obtain them Arul R B Krishna, T’Puram Police Commissioner