Improving basic policing first step towards making cities

Basic policing is the first aspect of law enforcement which needs to improve if our cities are to become safer and more secure for the people, experts said here today.
Speaking at the 4th National Conference On Safe Cities, organised by ASSOCHAM here, former home secretary GK Pillai blamed the lack of expertise among government and police officials as one of the challenges to securing our urban habitats.
"We have some very serious technical problems which we are trying to resolve, we are getting NATGRID, we are getting different systems into place.
"(But) integration of solutions is not going to come easy ... One of the reasons is that in government, both in the ministry as well as in police, technical people are very, very short," Pillai said.

Stressing thus on the need for improving the quality and the not the quantity, Pillai said that recruiting more and more security guards would not ensure safety.
"You will never get a city safe until basic policing is improved. The basic constables, thanas, etc., that really needs to improve.

"We really don't feel confident walking to a police station and talking to police personnel... This whole philosophy has to change," Pillai said.
Speaking on the occasion, former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said that safe cities had more to do with people and their involvement than with technology.
"The 'Safe City' project is today perceived as something which is technology intensive. I don't disagree with that, but I feel that more important than leveraging technology is the police-public partnership," said Kumar.

"Making a city safe is a multi-pronged effort. It is sending a sense of perception to the common citizen that when he steps out in the morning for work, he will return safe, when his children step out of the house, they will return safe. This effort can be generated by developing partnership," he said.
DR Karthikeyan, Chairman of the ASSOCHAM National Council on Security, gave the keynote address while RK Bhasin, Joint Director of the industry body, delivered the vote of thanks.