Janamaithri Suraksha Project - Kerala Police

g) Publicity and propaganda
Publicity and propaganda are deliberate & guided campaign to induce masses for the
acceptance of and action on given idea. The success attained by CP initiatives today is mainly due
to adequate publicity and due propaganda. The publicity messages were made more potent by
incorporating opposing arguments in a way that tended to discredit them. Such strategy really worked
because the stake holders were given the impression that the ultimate benefit shall go to them and
them only. Care was taken against deliberate lies, double talk, omission of facts, distortion of facts,
exaggeration, prejudiced appeals by certain community men and a section of .unwilling police men/
officers. The police authorities took all the stakeholders on board, held seminars and workshops to
disseminate the concept and allay the disinformation and apprehensions. Publication of success
stories in the media, radio dramas, street plays, website of the state police and many district police
organisations and even of a leading news paper of the state carrying positive aspects of the JSP
helped creating a favourable image in the public. The logo of the JSP gave it an identity of its own.
1.4.2 Implementation Phase
a) Formulation of Standard Operating Procedures
Standard Operating Procedures are the institutionalized implementable set of policy
guidelines published in form of Police Orders issued by the DGP of the State or by the Administrative
Department of the Government, e.g., Home Department in this case with its avowed objectives for
uniform application by political executives, bureaucracy and other stakeholders irrespective of the
incumbent in position to implement. In Kerala the guidelines for implementation of community
policing scheme, Janamaithri Suraksha Project, were issued and consolidated for over two years,
starting with G.O. No 3161/Home dated 23-11-2007, which briefly spells out the introduction of
Community Policing Scheme in the State and holding of Workshops, Seminars, distribution of
publicity materials and training of police personnel. Subsequently, the Government published
elaborate guidelines, dos & don’ts etc in GO No107/2008/Home dated 21-06-2008. The DGP,
Kerala issued Circular No 34/2009 dated 20-08-2009 and 35/2009 dated 21-08-2009, enjoining the
detailed guidelines of the Janamaithri Suraksha Project, role and responsibilities of the Community
Police Officers, that of Janamaithri Suraksha Samithis etc. All these government orders and circulars
helped consolidating the implementation of the scheme.
b) From Pilot Project to State-wide Implementation
Pilot implementation is one of the key strategies to evaluate the efficacy of any new project.
Pilot projects makes evaluation and analysis easier and help further developing the concept.
In Kerala there are twenty police districts, but the police leadership suggested introducing
Janamaithri Surashka Projects in fourteen police districts initially, limiting the scheme to twenty
police stations. It was extended to 21 more Police Stations in 2009. Subsequently, the scheme
was introduced in 107 police stations of the state, bringing the total number of police stations
covered under Janamaithri scheme to 148. Having assessed the popularity and acceptance of the
scheme by the public the Kerala government further extended the scheme to 100 more police
stations in 2012. The idea was to market the positive effects of the Scheme among the public and
generate demands from the people of the neighbouring Police Stations through their representatives
for introduction of the scheme in their respective police stations. In the process the police leadership
can bargain with the government for more resources for effective implementation of the scheme in
new areas. Here, the praxis correlates to the concept of ‘incrementalism’ (Lindblom, 1959).
c) Hand- holding
Hand holding is an expression meaning providing someone with guidance, assistance,
encouragement or aid and support to lessen anxiety. In the context of implementation of a new,
government sponsored scheme like Janamaithri Suraksha Project, the top police leadership is
expected to constantly guide, aid, support and patronize the scheme at the initial phase of
implementation to overcome the teething problems and make way for wider acceptance by public.
In Kerala, the senior police officers passionately played this role till the Project received wider
political and public acceptance with scaling up from pilot to state wide implementation. Starting
from selection of the beat police officers, training, monitoring and evaluation the State Level Nodal
Officer played the role of a mentor, constantly guiding and motivating the front line officers in the
department (concepts of Organisational Behaviour theories and Motivational theories).
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