Changes under SP Chowdhary: In first-time initiative, police now come to the people

the goan I network
PANAJI  
The first public police-citizen interaction, under the guidance of Superintendent of Police (SP) for North Goa, Chandan Chowdhary, was held in the Kamat Royale Co-operative Housing Society, Caranzalem, on Thursday evening.
Around 50 members from the 12 buildings in the society attended, and around 15 police personnel were present, including DySP Nelson Albuquerque and PI Sidhant Shirodkar.  
It was SP Chowdhary who decided to have these police-citizen interactions in small clusters in the whole of North Goa, over a period of time, to bridge the gap between police and the general public.
“Very often, there is a misconception amongst people that the police force is distant and unapproachable. There is still a taboo attached to going to the police station. So we decided to take this initiative to come to the people,” said SP Chowdhary, who urged those present to talk about any issue that they were facing or which they felt that the police could lawfully intervene.
The SP also explained that the idea behind having small meetings of between 50 to 100 people only, was so that people would not be hesitant to speak up. “If we have larger gatherings, then the purpose of these interactions gets diluted,” she explained.  
SP Chowdhary asked the people of the society about several issues like whether police verification of those staying on rent in the society had been done, whether domestic-help verification of part-time and live-in maids had been done, how many flats in the society were vacant, whether there were senior citizens living alone, and if the society faced any drug-peddling related problems.
She also asked the society to be careful while choosing their night-duty security guards, and to choose guards who were physically fit.  
PI Shirodkar advised those present to be careful while leaving their keys with neighbours, especially since domestic help took the set of keys left with the neighbours. The PI said he would send personnel from the police force to the society to collect tenant, domestic-help and car washers verification forms, so that residents wouldn’t have to make a trip to the police station.  
Meanwhile, CCP corporator of Ward 4, Kishore Sastry, requested people not to let maids use the address of those they worked for to open a bank account, as there have been instances of them later using the address to make Aadhar cards. SP Chowdhary concluded the interaction by promising to be back in a few months.  
The SP was witnessed personally thanking people for attending the meet, while people in their turn were grateful to her and the rest of the police force present for taking the initiative to come to them.