Objectives

Community Policing is understood as Policing with the help of Community.

Community policing is a collaborative effort between Police and Community to identify problems of crime, disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems. This concept brings the police and community into a closer working relationship and calls for greater responsibility on citizens.

We all are aware that Policing includes the following:

• Maintenance of order and peace
• Security, safety of the people and property
• Ensure effective enforcement of law
• Detection of crimes
• Orderly flow of traffic in urban areas and in highways and lot more

Thus discussing the objective of Police in relevance to community reveals to the concept of community policing, which ideally is:

Policing, as far as possible and practicable, by the community itself which means that any or all the functions mentioned above may be performed by the community to the extent they can and the remaining functions to be performed by the police with the assistance and involvement of the community to the maximum extent possible.

The concept of Community Policing started from the village Kotwal. Where a person from the community performs the functions of the police in the village. Gradually, and unfortunately the concept of Village Kotwal had been undergoing changes where its community character seems to be dwindling. Home-guards were another form of community policing. Even this has now become more a part of the police force than of the community.

Civil defense/emergency relief plan developed primarily on involvements and participation of the people in performing the safety, security, relief, and crisis management functions of the police during emergency. But now the idea needs a broader vision, more and regular involvement of Citizens and Police itself.