The police mitra initiative started by new Maharashtra Director General of Police, Praveen Dixit in a bid to bolster police-public relationship and to involve the public in day-to-day policing has received a good response with nearly 1 lakh people coming forward from across Maharashtra to be a part of it. Mr Dixit, who had taken several measures to bring in transparency as DG, ACB, has started the police mitra concept with the same goal. However, the police has not given anyone an identity card to ensure there is no misuse.
With a little over a month, the initiative has become a huge hit in Solapur rural and Chandrapur in rural Maharashtra. While in Solapur rural as many as 15,000 people from the public have voluntarily stepped forward to be a part of it, in Chandrapur about 8,000 people have joined hands with the police as police mitras.
Speaking to The Asian Age, Mr Dixit said, “We are ensuring only those from the public who have a clean image are allowed to be part of the initiative. These police mitras will be actively involved in day-to-day policing like patrolling, nakabandis or helping the police in tracing an accused.” SP Palghar Sharda Raut said, “It will help in the long run. It will definitely improve intelligence gathering and would be useful in policing tasks.”
The initiative also showed positive results in Chandrapur where a police mitra helped local cops nab an accused wanted in a gambling case. Confirming this, Superintendent, Sandeep Diwan of Chandrapur said, “Many youngsters have come forward and we have already compiled data of mobile numbers of 85 per cent of police mitras. While they are helping us by participating in policing we are helping them by giving them the training of a constable and informing them about vacancies in government jobs including in the police force.”
