Preventing crime and saving people

That’s community policing. Meet the convenor for HSR, Vikas Gnanamurthy
By ZAHID H JAVALI

A 75-year-old man with a memory problem went missing on Bannerghatta Road. All he said to the police constable was that his house is under the flyover. But every flyover that the auto driver took him to was incorrect. So the auto driver dropped him off at HSR police station. For four days, the cops kept him at an NGO hostel and took him to the very same flyovers he had visited before. When Kasavanahalli resident Vikas Gnanamurthy (29) who has his office in HSR Layout was asked by the cops to help out, the issue was resolved. “Since he was speaking Bhojpuri, I called one tile guy I knew who spoke Bhojpuri. During their conversation, the old man mentioned Meenakshi. I took that to mean, near Meenakshi Temple on Bannerghatta Road. So I called the neighbouring Hulimavu police station if they had any ‘missing persons’ complaint. My hunch was right and the man was reunited with his family on the 11th day.”

Vikas was one of the first persons to join the community policing wing of HSR Layout police station when it was set up one-and-a-half years ago. The 29-year-old graphic designer is a convenor for all the 34 Area Suraksha Mitras (ASM). From going along with the cops on day and night patrolling to organising awareness campaigns and helping people who come to the police station, Vikas loves his unsalaried job. “I spend about 2-4 hours per week and sometimes a lot more when counselling people is involved,” he says.

Vikas came across community policing three years ago when he read media reports about such programmes being conducted at police stations across Bangalore. “Around 1.5 years ago, when community policing began in HSR, the beat constable called me to enrol because I used to keep calling to ask if it has begun yet,” says Vikas. He was inducted after a three-hour preparatory session by Janaagraha’s staffers. Janaagraha is an NGO that has partnered with Bangalore Police to make community policing a reality in several parts of Bangalore.

“We usually blame the system. So I thought why can’t we change the system by being part of it?” reasons Vikas. “Earlier, the HSR police station area was huge and they lacked people who could do a comprehensive day and night patrolling. But now with the area reorganisation, it’s more manageable, with the same police strength of about 75-80 people.”

The biggest learning from his stint. “Much of the crime that happens is because of our negligence,” he says. Leaving your valuables inside the car or outside your house is the simplest example of that. Here is where awareness campaigns by volunteers help. When demonetisation happened, there were serpentine queues across the country and pickpocketing was rampant. “For over 25 days, with a mike in hand, we visited 50 banks in HSR Layout and educated the people to be careful with their money; that senior citizens should always come with an assistant and so on. No case of pickpocketing was registered in HSR during that period.”

Vikas counts several success stories in his 18-month stint. He reunited a 5th standard boy who fled from his hostel to stay with his mom in Mandya, but didn’t know how to get there. “He was studying at a Christian missionary hostel. He took money from the warden on the pretext of fetching milk, boards an auto and lands up at Kaikondrahalli as he didn’t know the name of his mother’s village.”

In another case, Vikas rescued three school boys who had fled a rehabilitation centre because they preferred going back to selling balloons on the streets. “Under the Bellandur flyover, dressed in school uniform, they were just crying all day. When the traffic cop asked them the reason, they kept saying that their mom hadn’t come to pick them up. It took a lot of counselling in the police station before we figured out the real reason. It’s amazing how children who are just in their 1st and 3rd standard can lie so well. We spoke to each kid separately and yet, each one told us the same story.”

Another senior citizen went missing in Whitefield after he had come from Gujarat to attend his son’s housewarming ceremony. Except the name of an apartment they could not find and a phone number that was not reachable, the cops had to temporarily put him up at a welfare home. “Next day, his son’s neighbour shared his missing details on Facebook and the traffic police got wind of it,” says Vikas. “I request everyone to always carry laminated ID cards on them to avoid situations like these.”

One case exemplified the welfare side of Vikas. “There was a labour camp near the BMTC depot in Sector 4 where about 12-15 kids were playing on the road every day. Kiran (the Janaagraha representative of Community policing in HSR) and I noticed them every day and worried about them being kidnapped, and why they were not being sent to the free Anganvadi school they were entitled to. We asked two such centres in Agara to take them but they refused because there were no vacancies. Speaking to the Child Development programme officers didn’t help as they promised help that never arrived even after two days. Finally, the HSR inspector accompanied us and got them admitted to one centre. We also got the 108 ambulance staff to give first aid treatment to the kids and BP and sugar testing for their parents.”

FAST FACTS
Vikas runs a web design and development company for over three years
Holds a diploma in computer science
Holds a Master’s degree in software and system engineering
Father is a retired PWD engineer from the Irrigation Department, Govt of Karnataka
Vikas did his schooling in Hiriyur and Honnali
He can be reached at 99016-00499