BENGALURU: In order to build and strengthen police-public partnership, the Bengaluru City Police have launched the ‘Ready to Report’ campaign in association with Amnesty International India on Saturday morning.
Launching the initiative at the Ashok Nagar police station, Police Commissioner M. N. Reddi said, “We want to encourage women to report instances of sexual abuse or harassment to the police without any loss of time. Unless women are ready to report, it is difficult for the police to act.”
The Commissioner said the police personnel were being provided training to sensitise them to women’s issues. “We want to make city police services more accessible to people. The initiative has been launched across 10 police stations where our staff and officers will take a pledge to enable women in the area to freely report cases of sexual abuse and harassment.”
Reddi, inaugurated a ‘virtual kiosk’ for the people which gave a simulated experience of being inside a police station and explained the step-by-step process of filing an FIR in Kannada and English. He joined local residents in painting the wall of the Ashok Nagar police station on the theme of ‘women’s safety’.
Ten police stations will be part of the community policing initiative across six divisions Yeshwantpur (North), Chickpet (West), Cubbon Park, Sadashiv Nagar and Ashok Nagar (Central), Indiranagar (East), Electronic City and Basavangudi (South), Whitefield and Koramangala (South East).
The stations will host events to build close relationship with neighborhood communities. The initiative is part of Amnesty International India’s ‘Ready to Report’ campaign, which will involve local neighborhood communities working with the Bengaluru police to enable safe and dignified reporting of crime, in line with international standards.
The citizens of Bengaluru will be educated about the process of filing an FIR through virtual reality kiosks in select neighbourhoods, interactive voice responses, WhatsApp, e-learning videos and Haptik (a mobile-based chat platform that offers support services).
