Students of Vidya Kendra, class IIA and IIB, visited the Kasaba Police Station, Kozhikode on 29th July, 2009.About 50 of us along with our dear teachers, Ms. Tanuja, Ms.Anitha, Ms.Laxmi, etc started from V.K. by 1 noon and returned in an hour. We went by bus. We were in our uniforms, the special V.K.T-shirts.
We had already studied about the Police Station during our Social Studies classes. We already knew about the Traffic Police whom we see daily while coming to school and in different junctions of the city. We were also taught that police officers catch thieves and criminals and keep public life and belongings safe. Thus, they serve us in many ways.
However, our teachers and parents had also warned us that police officers would beat naughty children and punish us if we were mischievous. So, we were a little bit frightened. As we arrived at the station and fell in queue, our hearts raced at huge speed with loud thud thud sound!!! Still, I tried to put up a brave face…
The courtyard was full of jeeps and vans, all looking alike, with pilot lamps on their heads. At the entrance was a counter and a woman police attended the reception.
Upon our arrival, a police officer came and took us inside. A police officer with a pistol or revolver stood in attention at the entrance. He was on guard duty. He is called the Station Security Officer.
The Sub Inspector of Police (SI), Mr.Manoj explained about the duties of police and took us around the station. He said that police attend to road accidents, crime against women, explore unidentified dead bodies, search for missing persons and lost vehicles, theft items, notify public about criminals, search for them, and gather intelligence on crime and terror groups and so on. The police station caters to all security needs of that locality and protects civil rights. They also aid enquiry for passports and support foreigners.
The Kerala Police force, in its present form dates back from 1956. Today our police investigate about two lakh cases a year. All senior officers belong to the IPS (Indian Police Service). There are different divisions in the police force. Crime, Special investigation, dog squad, police band, coastal police, highway police, railway police, cyber crime, mounted police etc. We can see most of these divisions during March past in Independence and Republic Day parades.
In this police station, there were many rooms. The SI had a room for himself. Nearby was a computer room for administrative works. Public filed petitions in another room. Head Constables attended duty in yet another room. There was a strong room with a locker (jail like). There were two thieves in there!
The most attractive room was one filled with arms and ammunitions. There were many weapons like rifles, pistols, guns, lathis, shields, barricades, bulletproof coats and so on. The use of tear gas was demonstrated. They also showed us bullets used to shoot. We had seen it on television, wherein police used it to scatter mob during protests and when they went out of control.
The SI took us to the office of the senior police officer- the Circle Inspector of Police. He also told us about other Police Stations in Kerala, the difference in caps worn at different levels of service, the badges and medals, etc. They all wore khaki uniforms and had a socket for safe custody of their pistols. He said the CI issues permission to use loud speakers for various functions.
We had so many doubts to be cleared, as well.
1. How police catch thieves?
2. Why do they have to wear khaki uniforms?
3. How to make a complaint?
4. Should we pay the police for their service?
5. How police differs from security in hospitals and banks?
And so on.
Finally, we thanked the SI of police for their hospitality. He asked us to dial 100 over phone in case of a complaint and said that the control room would do the needful to save us from trouble. He gave us toffees and we were excited. We thanked our teachers from our hearts for having cleared our apprehension and fear about the police force. In short, we enjoyed our visit to the police station very much.
