KOCHI: With the residential areas in Kochi, especially apartment complexes, witnessing an increase in crimes, the city police have launched a unique social media campaign to strengthen the bond between neighbours to curb offences.
A brainchild of City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju, the ‘Say Hello to Your Neighbour’ (SHYNe) campaign is being implemented through the social media account of the Kochi City Police.
“SHYNe campaign will see regular social media posts that encourage neighbours to know each other. Our first post was ‘#Know Thy Neighbour’. Two other posts -- ‘#smile and say something’ and ‘#gossip over a cup of tea’ -- were also released last week.
We will be coming up with new social media posts regularly as part of the campaign. With this, we intend to bring neighbours close so that they can come to the rescue of persons nearby in case of an emergency,” said City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju.
It was the recent murder of youth following drug abuse at an apartment near Infopark in Kakkanad that prompted the police to launch the campaign. The police were surprised that though the youth was murdered, the neighbours did not even know about it for two days, after which the body was found in the apartment. The probe revealed that the apartment was frequented by drug abusers and peddlers, but none of the neighbours reported it to the police.
According to Nagaraju, Kochi has a floating population and people are mostly focused on their families and livelihood. “Often, when any crime like theft or murder takes place, the people in the neighbourhood don’t even know who lives next door. They do not even know whether any criminal activities are taking place near their residential area. In villages, the situation is different as people in the neighbourhood gather during emergencies,” he said.
“Currently, SHYNe is a social media campaign. But we will be looking for other options for a similar campaign on the ground with the coordination of residents’ associations,” Nagaraju said. President of Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC) P Rangadasa Prabhu said they always welcome such campaigns.
“It is mainly in apartments where neighbourhood ties should be improved. The issues with apartments are that most of them are given for rent. In most cases, the owners are staying abroad and the apartments are taken care of by some relatives or close friends who never bother about tenants. There should be a proper auditing system by the police on who is taking apartments on rent,” he said.
Prabhu said EDRAAC conducts meeting every month with officers at local police stations and raises concerns. He added that to tackle the drug menace in Kochi, proactive measures should be taken from the school level so that youngsters can be dissuaded from drug abuse.