People's Police or Police's People ? : An Appraisal of Police-Public Collaboration By the Populace of Bhubaneswar, India.

In an endeavor to encourage improved police-public relationship, the police in India is taking serious concern to launch initiatives for safer societies through joint collaboration of the police and the people. Police-public relationship in India has been distant and strained as the police carries the colonial legacy of being repressive and authoritative. Further, there is a deep-set inhibition in the minds of the people about political interference and dominance in policing. Moreover, Community Policing in India took a late start off and still now operates at the level of a few programmes and not as a philosophy embedded in the minds of the police or the people. To win over the trust and cooperation of the people, it is important to have a 'people's police' and at the same time to ensure public involvement we need to have an empowered 'police's people'. The present study is an appraisal by the people of Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Odisha about the nature of police-public relationship in the city.

       A developing city, Bhubaneswar is showing rapid increase in inflow of people  mainly students and professionals from different parts of India. The police in Bhubaneswar has undertaken the uphill task of initiating community policing in the recent past to bond with the society and thereby build healthy sustainable communities. Greater public safety and secure social environment can be reared if and only if,  the police empower the people of Bhubaneswar through collaborative policing. This study assesses the views of the people of Bhubaneswar about the police and the involvement of the people and the police in community services. It evaluates the awareness  and interest of the people about community policing in Bhubaneswar and explores  the role of ICTs in making the collaborative efforts thriving.