I take this opportunity to convey my best wishes to the team of ‘The Mumbai Protector’ magazine and its publishers, New Media Communication, as they come up with the 9th Anniversary issue of the magazine.
Effective and efficient law enforcement is the basic sign of good governance. Police, being the primary law enforcement agency, is expected to be more dynamic and responsive. The Indian society has changed drastically, post liberalization. The advent of globalization has laid the obligations on the police system to be dynamic as well. Urbanization has thrown in new and more challenges.
Pune city is considered to be the cultural capital of Maharashtra. The city has emerged as a major educational hub in recent decades, with nearly half of the total international students in the country studying in Pune. Research institutes of information technology, education, management and training attract students and professionals from India and overseas. The strength of the police force however, is proportionately less. So it is of utmost importance for the police to solicit community support, giving the citizens the assurance that the police is on the side of law abiders.
Pune Police have launched several initiatives with the help of social media platform and involvement of the local NGOs for citizens and collaboration engagement. Bharosa Cell, Pune Traffic Club, Police Kaka and Buddy Cop are some of the recent initiatives introduced by us which have received a tremendous response. Under SEVA (Service Excellence & Victim Assistance), a unique initiative, we have talked, listened and assisted 1,30,988 people so far (who visited police stations for redressal of grievances). This has boosted their confidence in the police and has helped us improve service delivery on a continuous basis.
For Pune Police, it is a matter of reflection as to what the force has achieved in the last few years. And I can say with immense satisfaction that the police force today is better trained, well equipped and highly motivated to protect the throbbing city of 3.13 million people with the help of in-house learning center namely, COPS Excellence (Centre of Police Service Excellence). We had made a pledge to keep Pune safe, and we have kept that.
The Mumbai Protector, through the contents of its magazine (print, and web version – www.theprotector.in), has contributed significantly by highlighting the unsung achievements of the police force. The introduction of ‘Protector TV’ would be another landmark step in taking forward the message of cop-community connect. I appreciate their efforts and compliment them for their good work and wish them the very best.
Happy Reading!
Dr. K. Venkatesham (IPS),
Commissioner of Police, Pune City
