Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 14 (IANS) Kerala’s 484 police stations will undergo a transformation where people can walk in without hesitation, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said on Friday while launching the ‘My Police Station’ initiative at the Peroorkada police station.
The initiative seeks to change not merely the appearance of police stations but, more importantly, the way they function and interact with the public.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, local MLA and Health Minister K. Muraleedharan, and senior police officials attended the inauguration.
“The colour of police stations may become uniform across Kerala, but the real change should be in the way they function,” said Chennithala and stressed that police stations should be places where people feel comfortable seeking help and where their grievances receive due attention.
Under the initiative, police stations will have dedicated complaint, women’s, children’s, senior citizens’, transgender, persons with disabilities, cybercrime and legal-aid help desks.
Assistance for applications, online services, RTI-related information and obtaining FIR copies will also be made available.
Over the years, Kerala Police had consistently adapted itself to technological and social changes and recalled that India’s first women’s police station was established in Kozhikode.
“Every citizen should feel free to visit a police station and extend support and cooperation to the police,” he said, pointing to the success of ‘Operation Toofan’, one of the State’s major anti-narcotics drives, as evidence of what could be achieved through public participation.
The CM Satheesan government’s objective is to build a people-friendly, technology-driven, accountable and professionally equipped police force that meets international standards.
Chennithala also stressed the need for strict adherence to Supreme Court directives on arrests and other police procedures.
Referring to custodial deaths that had brought disrepute to the force, he said the government was determined to ensure that such incidents did not occur in future. CCTV cameras have been installed in all police stations to strengthen transparency and accountability.
A major change taking effect from Friday is the appointment of young Sub-Inspectors as Station House Officers, with 63 women Sub-Inspectors taking charge as SHOs.
Chennithala said the government would give greater attention to the mental well-being of police personnel, including training programmes aimed at preventing suicidal tendencies among officers.
“The transformation has already begun,” Chennithala said underlining that Kerala Police must evolve continuously to meet the changing expectations of society.
–IANS
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