Institutional Structure Of Saanjh

State Level Advisory Committee: A 25 member State Advisory Committee shall be the advisory body at Police Headquarters for planning and implementation of the Community Policing Project in the state. It shall be headed by ADGP/CP and include academicians and Police practitioners. The following administrative structure has been put in place for implementing the Community Policing Project in the state:

COMMUNITY POLICING A Philosophy

Community Policing in Punjab has been adopted as a philosophy and not as a programme and draws inspiration from the insight of the visionary Robert Peel that the Police are the public and the public is the police. In this philosophy, police and community collaborate to firstly, identify needs and problems of the community and then, jointly work towards finding solutions to the community problems while meeting aspirations of the community. It is a philosophy which expands the scope of policing from unidimensional crime fighting to a more elaborate, multidimensional role of consultative, deliberative, decentralized decision making and problem solving, involving the community. Prof. David Bayley, renowned policing expert makes a valid point about Community Policing when he says that the problem with policing in most countries is that it is centralized at Headquarters and foils to accommodate diversity of conditions in different localities requiring different approaches. In his view, which is echoed in the Saanjh approach, Community Policing, when genuinely implemented, transfers powers over strategies from people in Headquarters to people in operational positions such as SHO’s who are able to determine the character of policing in a particular area with the involvement of the local community.

In order to respond to the expectations of an enlightened public in the 2lst century, a need was felt in the State of Punjab, for an attitudinal transformation to bring about a service orientation in the police force. Community Policing experiments by individual officers were attempted in Punjab in the past, but the concept of Community Policing in the state, was reinvented and provided an institutional framework in the year 2011. ‘SAANJH’ a collaborative effort of Police and Community takes the philosophy down to the grassroots through sub divisional SAANJH KENDRAS and POLICE STATION SAANJH KENDRAS.

Principal Features

1. Saanjh project is an institutionalized set up of management of 27 Community Police Resource Centres (District Saanjh Kendras), 114 Community Policing Suvidha Centres (Sub Division Saanjh Kendras) and 363 Police Station Outreach Centres (Police Station Saanjh Kendras) in the State.

2. A Community Affairs Division shall be headed by an ADGP at the Police Headquarters alongwith IGP, DIG & AIG under him who shall supervise, monitor, evaluate and look after administrative & office work concerning the functioning of the Saanjh Kendras across the State. District Community Police Officers (SPs/DSPs) shall be the supervisory officers at District level.

3. To give a distinct identity to the Saanjh Kendras, all Centres have uniformly designed building with standardized furniture, furnishing and layout.

4. All Saanjh Kendras are registered as autonomous Registered Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

5. Every Saanjh Kendra shall be run by a Police-Public Committee comprising of Police Officers, Ex-officio members representing Government Departments such as Health, Education, Women and child welfare etc. at the district and sub divisional level and representatives from amongst Principals of Colleges, Professionals, Civil Society and Non Governmental Organizations.

6. A State wide IT platform with centralized server at Police Headquarters linked to every Saanjh Kendra shall enable centralized data uploading and access providing citizens with copies of FlRs, untraced reports, no objection certificates, etc., at a click of a button, in a time bound frame. Every Saanjh Kendra shall provide all services to be delivered by the Police Department as enshrined in the Right to Service Act within prescribed time limits to the people from a single window. The citizen from any part of the State shall be able to approach the nearest Saanjh Kendra for obtaining information/services from any Police Station in the state including remote locations.

7. Saanjh Kendras shall be platforms for partnership of the Community with the Police in planning and implementing locally relevant Community Oriented Projects. The community including Saanjh Committee members and coopted experts such as Lawyers, Psychologists and Counsellors shall be engaged in panels for resolving disputes pertaining to women, children, senior citizens, Non Resident Indians and other domestic and social conflicts such as tenant landlord dispute, rash driving ,underage driving, public nuisance etc, which affect the quality of life in the neighbourhood.

8. Saanjh Centres shall also serve as information Centres for access to specialized services such as Legal Aid, Victim Relief Centres, Women Shelters and Non Governmental Organisations working for empowerment of disadvantaged sections of society.

9. Community members involved in public dealing at the Saanjh Kendras as well as Police Officials have been trained regarding concept of Community Policing. Training shall be a continuous process in ensuring that requisite soft skills and management skills are developed in the participants of the Saanjh Project for its successful implementation.

10. Saanjh Kendras at the Sub Divisional level and police station level shall enable every citizen to approach these centres for majority of interactions of the citizen with the Police, where trained staff shall interact with the citizen at the front end while the Police Station shall provide services at the back end.

11. All recurring costs including outsourcing of Saanjh Kendras are being made by levying facilitation charges as per the government notification. Now these Saanjh Kendras are running as self sustaining modules in the State of Punjab.