Community policing

The government can not accomplish everything single-handedly. Community mobilization is one of the most effective ways of achieving goals. With this theory, the government is gradually transferring the responsibilities to the community accordingly making them powerful. Community forests and schools are some of its examples. The management of some forests and schools are transferred to the community. And things have improved with the participation of community in these sectors. The conflict in between the community and forest officials are no more heard; the affiliation has altered into pleasant and beneficial.

Crime is a complex issue. With the advancement of science and technology, and the growth of population, it has become more untamable. Law making is not the ultimate solution; rather it is the beginning of our efforts. The real success lies in the proper enforcement of laws. The police can not do all the jobs without help. And for this purpose, we must be able to congregate community cooperation. For that reason community policing is one choice; because it means policing crimes by the help of citizens. Community approach of policing is a policy of people, for the people, and by the people. Therefore, we can say that citizens are police without uniforms.

The core idea behind community mobilization is to build an environment for sustainable development and/or service programs. People’s consultation, consent, cooperation, and participation make the tasks of the government much easier. It also harnesses local resources for meaningful purposes. There grows a feeling of ownership among the people. Today, 4 June 2005, I had the opportunity to address, as a guest, one of the annual functions of Community Services and Development Society of Koteswor, Kathmandu. It is a society formed jointly, in cooperation of local people and local police, which aims to build up the locality into an idyllic residential area. Up-to-day there are more than one hundred such centers all over the country with the aims and objectives of liberating the locality from crimes, rendering social services, and initiating development works at local level. Some of them are really good; while some are trying hard to uphold. I believe the government must help refurbishing these types of centers which eventually make the government’s job easier.