New mohalla committees help reduce crime,suggests study

The findings show while 92.87 per cent of the community members agreed to the view that local people prefer to approach the committees for grievance redressal over the formal system,nine out of every 10 respondents or 92.14 per cent said the committees should be legally empowered to strengthen the public-police partnership for developing safer communities.

“It is an empirical study in community policing and perhaps the first-of-its-kind in Maharashtra. Our findings reveal that majority of the respondents or 64.7 per cent felt that due to involvement of the new mohalla committee members,a large number of civil cases or non-cognisable offences resolved amicably. Further,nine out of every 10 respondents said local people often approached NMCs for grievance redressal through informal and dignified manner. Further,63.09 per cent local residents and community members felt that swift and impartial justice was rendered by the committees and their problems were resolved faster (92.9 per cent) using alternative dispute resolution method,” said TISS Prof Arvind Tiwari,project director.

In the research,53.8 per cent committee members were below 40 years,18.6 per cent were between 41 and 50 years,while 11.2 per cent were above 51 years. “It indicates that people who volunteered their services were essentially the youth. Around 68.7 per cent were men and the rest were women,” he added.

While half of the respondents said fear of crime came down to a great extent,47.66 per cent said it was reduced to some extent,indicating that petty offences and neighbourhood disputes were considerably reduced due to these committees,says the paper.

Significantly,47.67 per cent said the committees had strengthened the information and intelligence network to a great extent,and 50.12 per cent said it was strengthened to some extent. Further,95.13 per cent members of the committees agreed that community policing had reduced corruption in the police department. Data also indicate that due to intervention of the committee members,the level of transparency had increased (58.31 per cent respondents) in the police functioning.

“Nearly half of the respondents agreed that they rendered help to the local police in crime investigation by becoming witnesses in many cases. The committees were seen as a viable platform for delivering social service to the needy. Religious tolerance and secular values were broadened among the police by 96.4 per cent through participation in the committees,” said Tiwari.

mihika.basu@expressindia.com