UP police in Saharanpur to do Nayak once every month

In a case reminiscent of the Anil Kapoor-starrer Nayak, the UP police in Saharanpur have decided to place one police post in the hands of a common man for 24 hours once every month.

A city resident without any link to politics will be chosen to head a police post in the city so as to make him or her aware about what goes on in the lives of both citizens and the policemen who have to tackle their woes with limited resources at their disposal.

Saharanpur senior superintendent of police Nitin Tiwari, the brain behind the initiative, We generally see that there is a gap between the police and the general public.

City residents should also know the hurdles and legal issues that police officers have to deal with on a daily basis. That’s why a city resident will be in charge of one police post for 24 hours. The person will act as a bridge between the masses and the police.

Tiwari, who was initially unsure about the response from the people, was taken aback when 25 applications reached his desk. If this exercise proves successful at one police post, we’ll repeat the drive at another police post the next month and will eventually extend it to the entire city. There are 21 police posts in Saharanpur.

Explaining the selection process, the SSP said policemen will track applicants to check their antecedents and then make a shortlist from which one person will be chosen randomly. Cops are hoping this initiative doesn’t fall foul with the law.

Though there is no hard set of criteria for the selection, the person chosen to head a police post should be an Indian national with prior work experience in some kind of public dealing. No uniform, however, will be given to the person assigned the work for a day. But there will be some sort of a dress code.

Tiwari said that the drive will help the police department learn many things about its own style of functioning and image perception. Once that person spends 24 hours as a police official, he will also be able to comment on what all negative things are present in the police department; if he notices any, we will be able to make amends and change for the better.

In 2012, Ghaziabad police had started a similar police-public programme with residents welfare associations in Indrapuram, Vijay Nagar, Mohan Nagar, Kavi Nagar and Vasundhara, under which joint teams of policemen and RWA members were set up to deal with local law and order issues. Many other community policing initiatives have also been taken in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and other states and these have mostly helped police build trust among people.