As crime statistics climb up in a city struggling with an ever-increasing population, citizen safety is not just the onus of the cops but that of the people as well. MiD DAy brings you the ways in which you can make the most out of community policing As the ever-bustling population strains the city's seams every passing day, maintaining law and order has become an unwieldy task for the Mumbai Police. u00a0 <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2011/feb/reckoner12.jpg" border="5" /> With a police-population ratio of about 1:300, the role of community policing assumes critical importance for citizens' safety. Currently, the strength of the police department is approximately 41,000, which consists of officers of every rank. This includes the policemen who are assigned jobs related to VIP security, protecting forests, escorting prisoners and working as telephone orderlies. But it would be naive to expect the men in uniform to prevent every odd crime in the vast city. Community policing involves devising strategies that encourage community interaction with the police and thereby help control offences and reduce night-time crimes in the neighbourhood. The idea is to involve community members in helping the police identify suspects, detain vandals and bring their attention to area-specific problems. "With the growing population of the city, community policing is fast becoming the need of the hour," admitted Sanjeev Dayal, Mumbai police commissioner, at the annual police conference held recently. u00a0 "This helps build people's confidence in their ability to fight crime and terror alongside the police," he said. Since a majority of the city's area has large slum pockets, the police are intensifying initiatives launched under the community policing schemes. Engage in community policing through: 1. Zopadpatti Police Panchayat:u00a0 To form such a panchayat, a team of one officer and some men are selected for each identified slum area, which is their beat. For each slum, a committee of 10 representatives from among the slum dwellers, comprising seven women and three men, is constituted. This committee, along with the selected police team, is jointly responsible for policing the particular slum. The committee holds meeting at least once a week to discuss and solve local policing-related problems with a view to prevent small incidents which may end up as cognisable offences. The representatives of slum dwellers are designated Zopadpatti Police Sahayak.u00a0 They assist the police in keeping a watch in their respective areas. The members of the 'Panchayat' are issued photo identity cards by the police. 2. If you have been a victim and have registered a police complaint, you should know this: Saturday meetings at the police station with the complainants In order to make the police services more transparent and accountable to the general public, the scheme of Saturday meetings at every police station is considerably helpful. During these meetings, the senior police inspector of the station and a few police inspectors remain present, and fill in the complainants about the status of the cases. The concerned complainants are invited and briefed about the progress made on the investigation. 3. Rehabilitation of youth offenders: To identify young and first-time offenders and help them rehabilitate themselves so they do not revert to the world of crime, the police have joined hands with a few NGOs to conduct this programme. Call on alert citizen helpline and report about the following: A. Description of the accused/suspect(s) B. Registration number and description of the vehicle involved in the commission of the crime C. Reporting that a vehicle has been abandoned in a public place for a long time D. Reporting information about weapons E. Reporting information regarding explosives F. Reporting on contraband G. Reporting about narcotics, etc Police helpline number: 1090 Alert citizen helpline:u00a0 2263 3333

As crime statistics climb up in a city struggling with an ever-increasing population, citizen safety is not just the onus of the cops but that of the people as well. MiD DAy brings you the ways in which you can make the most out of community policing

Too much crime? Be a community cop and fight it

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Too much crime? Be a community cop and fight it

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