3Ps for crime prevention in Assam

The Assam government’s decision to restructure the Thana Level Nagarik Committees (TNLC) as a Community Liaison Group has triggered hopes for crime prevention in the state through improved police-public relations. Fresh initiatives in this regard must consider the fact that similar efforts in the past could not be sustained as committees formed had become defunct due to inherent structural weaknesses. Nevertheless, close coordination between the public and police plays a crucial role in maintaining law and order and curbing crime when residents of a locality volunteer to become the eyes and ears of the police force. Institutionalising the interface as a dynamic forum is a challenging task in urban areas. Localities in rapidly growing cities like Guwahati, for instance, undergo frequent changes in terms of resident population and infrastructure. The migrant population moves into different localities of the city, keeping pace with the growth of business activities, development projects, the conversion of individual housing plots into residential apartments or shopping malls, government or private offices, banks, and other financial institutions, etc. This also gives rise to rented properties, the occupants of which keep changing. Such dynamics of city life add new challenges to day-to-day policing and crime prevention, and the cooperation of local residents becomes extremely important to ensuring a crime-free society. The notification issued by the Home Department states that the TLNC will act as an interface, providing valuable information about criminals, bad characters, and suspicious activities to the police and aiding in crime prevention and investigation efforts. When the concept of forging closure in police public relations was formally converted into an action in 1996, it evoked a positive response, which was demonstrated in the form of residents coming forward to be members of Nagarik Committees of different police stations. Information sharing then was not as fast or easy as it is now. The spread of smartphones, the internet, social media networks has now made it possible for citizens to share information about any crime incident, suspicious activities, or movement instantly. This enables police to act swiftly to nab criminals, bust criminal gangs, or take preventive action. The digital empowerment of police and citizens has created new opportunities to make the police-public interface a robust and dynamic institution. The TLNCs becoming truly representative of the local population is critical to achieving the objective behind their reconstitution. Transparency and a democratic approach in their formation in the presence of representatives of every household, business, office, and institution will make them more trustworthy than a committee handpicked by police authorities. The police station being the pivot of the TLNC, the office-in-charge is required to be pro-active in keeping the committee functional and active. Often, initiatives of government officials are discontinued with the transfer of the officials concerned. The outgoing officer-in-charge of the police station introducing the TLNC representatives to the new officer-in-charge will ensure the continuation of the interface. The government instituting special awards for the TLNC and commendation for police staff of a police station that records zero crime or the lowest crime incidents with reducing numbers will incentivise the committee members as well as police personnel to increase coordination. The institution of special awards for prevention or crime against women, children, and elderly persons will also motivate citizens to make voluntary contributions towards meeting the expenditure of such awards. These incentives must not be confined to Guwahati and can be introduced for every police station in various towns and villages. As criminals are desperate to commit the crime and use faster modes of transportation to flee the crime scene, residential and commercial areas having adequate CCTVs and properly illuminated with streetlights are essential for expeditious investigation and evidence collection in cases of crimes committed and in crime prevention. When the government fund is limited to covering each lane with adequate CCTVs, the TLNC can play a crucial role in impressing upon residents and business owners to install CCTVs so that the maximum area in each locality is covered. It will also take deterrent action against crimes like drug peddling, chain snatching, and atrocities against women and children. Government equipping the police stations with adequate mobility support for night patrolling is important to boost the confidence of community volunteers against crime. When citizens are sure of a police patrol vehicle quickly rushing to a place without wasting time after an alert is sounded by them, it will boost their confidence to voluntarily share information about any suspicious activity they come across. Periodic stakeholder consultation, at least quarterly, will prevent the TLNCs from being reduced to a defunct committee as in the past. While physical attendance in meetings organised at shorter intervals is often not possible for citizens, virtual meetings can be organised on digital platforms for announcing important decisions and for feedback. It is hoped that lessons will be learnt from the failures of past initiatives so that the 3Ps – Police-Public Partnership — become a permanent feature in crime prevention in the state.