"We have made 5,000 friends officially since the launch of the scheme on June 28," said K. Narsimha Rao, Additional Director General of Police, Community Policing, Rajasthan, told .
Under the scheme, any Indian citizen staying in Rajasthan can become the police mitra by visiting the police web portal, filling a form, and selecting one of the 23 options, which include checking crime, enhancing awareness on human rights, environment conservation, helping in social media topics and awareness on anti-social elements. The people can choose more than one option as well.
The police mitra must not be a member of a political party and should be over 18 years of age, said Rao and added, he/she should not have any past record of anti-social activity.
Tamil Nadu has been running this scheme successfully. Delhi too is witnessing its success. This way, people can make their state a better place to live and participate in activities, like organising de-addiction camps.
The people will have to go to police web portal and click on the link, fill the form and save it. When the people will save the filled-up form, it will reach the thana in-charge, who will check the details and his records. Once its through, the application will be accepted and the person will receive an update.
He/she can serve in diverse fields, like anti-narcotics drive, women rights awareness and drive for deprived and weaker sections of society. They can also extend their help during religious procession, fairs and festivals, in night patrolling, police-public sports programmes, rehabilitation of jail inmates, sharing with police data on major developments and crime activities and can help in educational, IT and medical fields.
"We are expecting to make 2-3 lakh friends in next few months," Rao said and added, it would strengthen the police machinery and expand its reach.
Speaking on the community policing, he said one needed to learn a lot from Kerala Police. The police there collect data on senior citizens and ensure that even their non-police needs were met. For example, if they need medicines, the department ensures they get it on time.
"That's something, which speaks of their excellence in this domain," Rao said.
( With inputs from IANS )