Police in Bangalore are now turning to books to keep themselves 'intellectually fit', thanks to a novel idea of starting libraries at police stations. The mastermind behind the move, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru South) K Annamalai, told Indianexpress.com that such a development is important to ensure police officials also grow to become good human beings. "Primarily, the idea came through as a stress-buster to police officials while at their respective stations itself. It is important that each one of them becomes a well-grounded human in order to become capable of handling the society's problems," he says. He adds that he was overwhelmed by the response he got online and offline after tweeting about the start of the initiative. "We have been getting a lot of calls and many individuals and organisations have come forward to donate books already. Our book banks are growing which indicates that our libraries will become self-sustainable soon," Annamalai adds. We have opened a library across each of the 17 police stations of South Division Bengaluru city police. We have started with 20 books each. The aim is to make cops become more learned, smarter & well rounded. Please consider donating as well if you feel so. @CPBlr @BlrCityPolice pic.twitter.com/9pMLXSHFZg — K. Annamalai IPS (@DCPSouthBCP) June 1, 2019 The initiative which began with 20 books each at 17 different police stations of Bengaluru City Police's south division now has more than 700 books in total now, with Jayanagar leading the race. Each library constitutes of books from different genres including history, law and order, fiction and non-fiction apart from inspiring autobiographies, according to police officials. An inspector from the Jayanagar police station says, "We have around 300 books in our ever-growing library now. Coming back to the station to read books is helping us grow intellectually apart from it becoming our favourite pastime now." The move has been lauded by many online as Annamalai's tweet continues to be shared widely across social media. "Congratulations on this new initiative. I am pretty sure this would bring lot of awareness and knowledge to our police staff. I am interested in donating, kindly let us know the way and means to do it," a user tweeted. Congratulations on this new initiative. I am pretty sure this would bring lot of awareness and knowledge to our police staff. I am interested in donating, kindly let us know the way and means to do it. — Shujath Pasha (@shujathpasha) June 1, 2019 Another person wrote on Twitter, "Reading books is a stress buster, that is very much required for policemen. They are busy 24 hrs. They also need mental rest." Reading books is a stress buster, that is very much required for policemen. They are busy 24 hrs. They also need mental rest. — MadhuG (@ajaathashatru) June 2, 2019 However, some citizens were not so happy with the move terming it an "eyewash". "Stop this eyewash thing. Let them first learn honesty of not taking bribes. You start doing sudden checks and be more reachable so that people being harrassed can reach out to you," a user tweeted.
