Most people carry a set image of a police official, and unfortunately, it’s not a friendly one. They still hesitate calling police in times of need. Many are scared to approach police or file a complaint at the police station. This is one of the reasons why many crimes go unreported.
However, officers like Mr. Arif Sheikh are always there to inspire confidence in the police force by projecting the human face of police. Noting people’s reluctance to approach police personnel, the DIG of Anti-Corruption Bureau, Raipur, has been working towards people-friendly policing by bridging the gap between community and police.
With this thought, he started one of the most celebrated initiatives titled ‘Navodaya’ while he was posted as the SP of Balod, Chhattisgarh. The mission was extremely successful and was awarded by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).
During a conversation with Indian Masterminds, he spoke about the mission and expressed hope that it would be launched nationwide soon.
POLICE AND PUBLIC COMING TOGETHER
‘It is very important to create a healthy dialogue between police and community. Then only, the common man will see them as friends and not someone to get away from. Since the police force always remain short on staff, joining hands with public will work as the force multiplier,” said Mr. Sheikh, whose initiative like `Chuppi Todd’, `’Har Head Helmet’, and `Samvedna’ also got recognition at various levels.
When he was posted in Balod, Mr. Sheikh launched `Navodaya’, with a vision to connect with people and create awareness among them. The initiative included three major points: E-Suraksha, Jeev-Daya and Purna Shakti.
E-Suraksha included programmes to create awareness about cyber-security and cyber-crime among the villagers. To make this successful, several workshops were organised in the five blocks of the districts and 7000 students were informed about cyber crimes and ways to deal with them. Then, a cyber-exam was conducted to select 500 E-Rakshaks. These E-Rakshaks were trained properly and were sent to villages for the awareness campaign. Under this programme, more than 7 Lakh people of Balod were informed about ATM and bank-related frauds.
CRUCIAL 40 MINUTES
Death in road accidents had become a common phenomenon in Balod. It was necessary to make people realise the value of observing traffic rules and become a helping hand for others.
“40 minutes after any accident is said to be the crucial period. If the victim is attended properly and reached to the hospital within this time, the chance of his survival increases. It is only possible when the people witnessing the accident are sensitive enough to help the victims,” Mr. Seikh said.
In this connection, 40 accident zones were marked in the district and a committee was created for each of them. Members of the committee were trained by senior doctors to give first-aid and take the victims to the hospitals immediately. Several information boards with names and contacts of the members, contacts of police control room and nearest police station were also put up all over the district. With this exercise, the number of deaths in road accidents in the district came down by over 10 per cent.
PURNA SHAKTI
Under this initiative, women of Balod were encouraged to use their rights. Many female officers conducted workshops to educate them about crimes against women as well as ways to tackle them. Since many women used to wear saree, popular self-defence methods such as karate were not feasible for them. So, they were trained to become safe through ‘Ready to React Model’. They also learnt how to use their personal items like pins, purse and bottles for their safety during unwanted situations.
