Policing with a Difference

Shri J.K. Tripathy, an IPS officer of the 1985 batch from the Tamil Nadu cadre, currently IGP (EOW), received the Prime Minister's Award For Excellence in Public Administration on 21-04-2008 from the Prime Minister of India, for introducing in Trichy an innovative Community Policing Module during 1999-2001.

The policeman had broadened the normal police role towards more personalized service delivery by instituting ‘Community Policing’.

The situation of Tiruchirapalli at the time when Shri J.K.Tripathy took was worse, In the year 1999, the fundamentalist forces challenged the City’s tradition of religious tolerance. The community witnessed the barbaric murder of a Hindu front leader. Bombs were planted in police establishments and a senior police officer was attacked with grenade.

This serene city witnessed such an adverse communal climate for the first time. Mutual distrust divided the fabric of the community, which was exploited by criminal gangsters. The community was losing confidence in the police and the widening gap denied any community support. It posed a serious challenge to the police. The adverse police-public ratio and highly stretched resources left the police to face these challenges alone , with a very low morale.

Thus, the main problems for police were gaining the confidence and acceptance of the public, getting information on crimes and criminals and mobilizing public support, in maintaining harmony among various racial and religious groups. To achieve this, the Trichy City Police had not only to challenge the forces of communalism and lawlessness, but also to instill sense of confidence amongst the citizens.

Partnership:
As the traditional policing methods proved inadequate to tackle the prevalent complexities of challenges, we had to look for alternative solutions. We decided to face these challenges by introducing new paradigms, through a wide range of initiatives.

The novel initiatives aimed at bringing about a synergistic effect, by partnering with the Community, Government Agencies, Elected Representatives, NGOs and other service -oriented organizations, to prevent crimes of all types, through pro-active approach, by identifying areas of concern and the interventions required for solutions, leading towards a better quality of life. He reoriented operations to focus on local problem solving, developmental and welfare activities, crime preventive education and developing good relations with the community

He instituted the Beat Officers System (BOS), which localized policing and built good rapport with the community, led to greater transparency and officers having a greater sense of accountability and responsibility. Crime rates came down considerably because of a direct policing approach and the community’s participation.

The lower level police staff, which is a major (86%) section in police department, was trained and given better understanding of this approach, leading to implementation of the concept effectively at the grass root level. Other innovations were Wide Area Network connecting all Police Stations, Helpline for women in distress, slum adoption programme and boys’ clubs for checking juvenile delinquency.

The officer successfully met the challenges through contemporary as well as traditional policing practices by leveraging the existing organizational structure and resources. Initiating an innovative philosophy is a notable achievement and this initiative is being replicated in other States as well.

This project also received numerours awards and honours from within the country and abroad -
1. First Indian Police Project to receive “International Community Policing Award” for 2001, from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Washington, during their 108th Annual Conference held at Toronto.
2. “Dr. Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Special Award” for 2001, conferred by State Resource Centre, Chennai, under The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.
3. “Innovation in Governance Gold Medal” for 2002, presented by the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM), at Glasgow.
4. “The Innovation for India Awards” for 2006, conferred by the Innovation for India Award Foundation, headed by then Chairman and Director General, CSIR.

It is heartening to read about such sons of India who work silently to eradicate the various evils which has gripped our society. JAI HIND