Malda, on the northern bank of the Ganges and Farraka Barrage at times was the capital of Gour during the Sultanate regime and had a glorious past. But, this bordering district lost its grandeur and decades back it became one of the vulnerable and crime prone districts due to many nefarious activities. Malda Police has however, redefined the district in the state crime map following its success of zero poppy missions.
Malda had always been known for heinous crimes like dacoity, robbery, murder, kidnapping for ransom, gang rivalry etc and different rowdy groups from in and outside Malda used to commit such crimes. But, during last 15 years the crime pattern got modified in the district which was hub for clandestine poppy cultivation and corridor for distributing Fake Indian Currency Note(FICN). Malda district shares 173 K.M long international borders with Chapai Nawabganj district of Bangladesh and more than 80 K.M border with Katihar in Bihar and 30 K.M border with Sahibgunj in Jharkhand. Since this district has inter-state and international borders, it has been rather sandwiched due to criminal activities committed by outside gangs taking shelter in this district and other external agencies intend to destabilise the economy of our country.
Malda Police besides, various preventive measures tried to tackle crime mainly by roping population of the district through various community policing initiatives. Alor Pathye- a scheme was introduced in the district to felicitate Madhyamik, Higher Secondary toppers and successful candidates in Engineering and Medical degree course. Last year three students one from Kaliachak and two from Baishnabnagar were felicitated in presence of locals, aspiring students and dignitaries. This brightened the image of the district police. These meritorious students who are mostly from underprivileged section of the society have become prominent good will ambassadors of the district police. They partially ease the job of police by counseling distracted villagers to keep themselves away from indulging illegal, immoral and criminal activities. A Football Tournament namely Samanwoy Cup was organized at Kaliachak which was inaccessible for police for its notoriousity. Teams from all 27Gram Panchayats participated in the tournament and the local youths came closer to the police than ever. The youthfulness and energy of local youths were earnestly and consciously channelized so as to prevent them to going ashtray, said 
Arnab Ghosh, the Superintendent of Police. Once again this huge pool of young men became good will ambassadors of local police and developed in to an important interface between the police station and public in general. Malda Police also introduced a vocational training programme Disha for the educated youths of Kaliachak, Baisnabnagar in particular those had a tendency of slipping into darker avenuesof life due to want of proper employment. District police with the help of general administration of Malda took an initiative to impart three months vocational training on Hardware Maintenance, Tally software, Private Security etc to the youths under Border Area Development Fund (BADF). Substantial numbers of such trained youths have earned a decent job and 126 selected boys and girls are yet to get proper employment. These initiatives have empowered both, the community and the police. The police in a joint operation with CID could zero down the illegal poppy cultivation where monetary involvement was hundreds of crores. The status of zero poppy district has also been admitted by Central government agencies (NCRB), informed SP.
Fatal road accidents have been dropped down by 30 percent since July last year because of systematic approach of the district police. Traffic department identified accident prone zones following ‘Black Spots’ analysis and the officials physically visited 419 crossings of National Highway(NH), State Highway(SH), district median roads. Speedy vehicles from perpendicular road suddenly got onto the main carriageway which was the reason for fatal accidents, they observed. Following a meeting with the superior officers of district police and engineers of NHAI, PWD (NH), PWD (Roads) and Zila Parishad, speed breakers were built on such lateral roads which yielded successive result in reducing road accident.
‘We have emphasized on pro active policing,’ said Superintendent of Police. Social crimes like child marriage, child labour could be prevented due to preventive role of the police and awareness of public. Civic Volunteers and Village Police are systematically utilized for collecting every possible information and recovery of missing minors. During last ten months 919 minor girls were recovered and 92 child marriages were stopped by the police in Malda. The Civic Volunteers and Village Police maintain regular contact with the villagers and this actually helps them to get even trivial information like the appearance of Nilgai (Blue Bull) in Adina forest. Police are reaching at the door of people as a development meeting on every fourth Saturday of month is convened and chaired by Pradhan of Gram Panchayat. Development and social issues are discussed in the meeting and prompt actions are taken. The issues which are not directly related with the police are taken up with the concerned authorities of civil administration, said Arnab Ghosh, Superintendent of Police.
Abhijit Chatterjee
