Dr Asangba Tzüdir
A year of the Dimapur police Commissionerate have restored and instilled a sense of trust and security in the minds of the general public and have also brought laudable order to a ‘work in progress’ especially in the aftermath of the 5th March 2015 incident that saw a total breakdown of law and order. In this one year since its inception, various notable features in policing have given a facelift to their functioning. The men in khaki have never been more active which have indeed restored their pride, integrity and dignity as law keepers. The casual approach to the call of duty seems to have finally shifted, with a realization, of their responsibility and the motto to which they have pledged to serve the people.
Under the Commissionerate system of policing, tangible improvement in the area of policing and maintenance of law and order has been visible. Statistically, Dimapur occupies less than 10% of the geographical area of Nagaland, but accounted for 43% of the crimes in Nagaland. As reported in a local daily, the total number of crimes registered for 2013 and 2014 in the state was 1682 and 1210 respectively while the crime rate in Dimapur alone was 699 (42%) and 532 (44%). There was an increase in the number of cases registered in 2015 with a total of 1003 cases from Dimapur district alone which happens to be the highest in a calendar year so far with a total arrests of 1018 persons. The increased number of cases registered takes one beyond the statistical interest that, in reality their “Zero tolerance approach to crime” has reaped commendable returns in terms of accountability. The installation of Close Circuit TV at important intersections will definitely act as deterrence towards prevention of crimes and various other illegal activities.
With an increasing number of vehicles, traffic regulation has been a major challenge and the added manpower and rationalization through streamlining has helped eased the traffic to a great extent. Not only that, regular surprise checks has enabled drivers to become ‘law abiding citizens.’
A creditable feature of the Commissionerate policing has been the ‘‘public interface’’ providing various integral information accessible to the public through their website and through social media. This has enabled a closer interaction with the public in knowing the needs of the public so also creating awareness.
In a city like Dimapur, crimes of all sorts including organized crimes; human trafficking and flesh trade; and cybercrimes besides economic offences, are bound to happen and this adds to their responsibility of preventing and detecting crimes added to it the task of delivering justice and to bring to justice those who break the law. Their call to duty and service comes with the challenges of policing towards the creation of a democratic society and the duty to assure safety and security and protect the lives of the citizens including their rights, to uphold law fairly and firmly with due respect for the rights of the citizens and reassure the community of the service for which they are committed to the motto “Security, Service and Sacrifice” with moral integrity, and sound judgment.
Times ahead, the Commissionerate will be confronted by challenges of all sorts and sleepless nights. But the first year of the Dimapur Police Commissionerate has shown so much of promise in providing better service delivery, better regulation of activities, improved public order, faster incident response, etc. As for the general public, we need to give our full cooperation and support in helping the police serve us better.
(Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is an Editor with Heritage Publishing House. He contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
