By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Police has launched a unique initiative ‘Safe-Secure-Shillong’ to forge a strong partnership between the police and the community towards reduction of crime and improvement of security.
The first meeting of the steering committee was held on Thursday under the chairmanship of DGP N Ramachandran at the police headquarters.
The initiative aims to control and reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and leveraging technology to ensure security of public places and business establishments.
The project assumes significance in view of the massive number of crime cases being registered in different police stations across East Khasi Hills district every year.
The Safe-Secure-Shillong will try to adopt several strategies including installation of CCTV cameras at strategic locations and connecting them to a centralized control room as well as the police stations.
Under the initiative, shopkeepers, banks, hotels and others would be encouraged to install CCTV cameras on their premises as security measures.
The project also intends to adopt a communication plan to reach out to the police through an ‘alert network’ for information sharing between the police and the citizens by way of SMSes and phone calls.
Additional DGP BL Buam will be the nodal officer to coordinate the project and the committee will sit once every month to trace the progress.
The steering committee consists of Theilin Phanbuh, Khalid Khan, Brig William JB Sturgeon, Ramesh Bawri, Suresh P Singh, Naba Bhattacharjee, Sanjeeb Kakoty, GM Bruce Sawkmie (Rangbah Shnong of Laitumkhrah) and JR Lyngwa (Rangbah Shnong of Nongrim Hills).
It was also decided that another meeting would be convened shortly to discuss the strategy regarding the procurement of CCTV cameras.
The police department will also initiate a series of consultations with citizens, community leaders and the media to seek their advice for the effective implementation of the project.
The State Police has invited suggestions from citizens in this regard which can be mailed at safesecure shillong@gmail.com.