It was an eventful year. When I took over as the Commissioner of Police of Kolkata, the assembly elections were on the anvil. So, facilitating a fair and peaceful election was my foremost challenge. Kolkata Police toiled round the clock  and ensured a fair, free and peaceful election. After the elections, the Hon’ble Chief Minister Minister Mamata Banerjee wanted both proactive policing for effective  law and order and security as also a crime free Kolkata and further wanted the police to reach out to the public. On 1 September, 2011, by a historic decision of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, our area more than doubled. As many as 17 new police stations, 10 traffic guards and 2 Divisions were added to the existing 48 police stations and six divisions, to be managed within the existing resources. Kolkata Police, not only successfully met the challenge, but also ensured a smooth puja. All officers and personnel worked untiringly to achieve this. My salute to them for the  kudos received by the public – both in terms of law and order, crime and  an efficient traffic management system.

With the increase in our jurisdiction, we have now been focusing more on intense patrolling, crime prevention and detection and law and order management. The security of the citizens is our foremost concern and we endeavour to be vigilant always. We are updating technology so that we are better equipped to respond to different situations.

In the last one year, Kolkata Police has unearthed many fake currency rackets and seized over Rs.1 crore of fake currency. Our information also helped other agencies arrest dreaded criminals and terrorists.

            On December 9, we were struck by one of the worst tragedies in the city. A devastating fire at a South Kolkata hospital, AMRI, took the lives of 92 people, mostly patients, admitted in the hospital. I wish to express my deep sense of grief at the loss of lives in the AMRI fire and I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims of the tragedy. At the same time, I am proud of the officers and men from Kolkata Police, especially the commandoes and Disaster Management Group (DMG) and the Fire Brigade personnel as also the residents of Panchanantala, who risked their lives to save several patients and other people trapped in the fire.

Under the inspirational presence and leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Kolkata Police was able to maintain law and order and also fulfill all formalities.

Kolkata Police, thereafter,  had to gear up for the police arrangements for the Christmas and New Year celebrations and ensured smooth law and order and traffic arrangements.

The New Year is a harbinger of a new hope and aspirations. Kolkata Police is aware of the heightened expectations of the citizens.  Ever since we have worn khaki or white,  we are on duty 24 X 7. The security and safety of the citizens comes first. Our own personal benefit and comfort comes last – always and every time.  I wish every citizen of this city a joyous and prosperous new year.

It was a grand investiture ceremony of Kolkata police where both police personnel and civilians were awarded for their outstanding act of bravery, extra-ordinary courage and integrity for serving the society and people and of course exemplary dedication to make the city a better place to live in. The awardees included the Mayor of Kolkata, Sovan Chatterjee, who on August 24, 2011, rescued an injured teenager from the road and saved her life by organizing timely medical intervention at a hospital.

But the ceremony was taken to a different height when the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave away awards to 66 youths of Panchanantala at Dhakuria who did not think twice to risk them lives and jumped into the rescue operation alongside the disaster-management group of Kolkata Police to save lives of hapless trapped patients inside the ill-fated AMRI Hospital on December 9, 2011.

At the ceremony, the chief minister announced that jobs would be given in the Green Police unit to these youths. Giving away awards to each of the 66 youths, the Chief Minister said “We have decided to offer them jobs as Green Police if they want.” The civic police volunteers, known as Green Police, assist the Kolkata Police in traffic management and crowd-controlling. Of the 66 youths who were awarded for their bravery, two could not be present as they were undergoing treatment in hospital after falling ill from inhaling the smoke.

The Chief Minister also congratulated the Kolkata Police commandos and disaster management group personnel for rescuing a number of patients from the hospital. It was a long journey since 1856 when the modern police force was born under the leadership of Sir Samuel Wauchope, the first commissioner of police to current commissioner of police Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda. The colourful ceremony was enlivened by the march past of different divisions and wings of Kolkata Police.

The Kolkata Police also rewarded those unsung heroes who silently do their best to help a fellow citizen by going out of their way, rescue a person from the danger, save lives by taking the person-in-distress to hospital or to police station. Keshar Kamal Gupta was one such person who sacrificed his life to rescue a mother and her three-year-old baby from electrocution in water-logged street, or Sheikh Moinuddin who caught an armed snatcher who was fleeing after snatching a gold-chain, or Karu Yadav, a cabbie, who deposited cash Rs 2.5 lakh left behind by a commuter, to police station.

Besides, Central Division of the city police was declared as the best division, the 3rd Battalion of Armed Police Force was declared as the best Armed Police Force, Amherst Street police station was announced as the best police station in the city and Shyam Bazar traffic guard was declared as the best Traffic Guard.

48 police personnel were given away awards.
NISHTA PADAK was awarded to -

Anil Kar, Assistant Commissioner, Detective Department
Ajay Adhikary, Inspector, Headquarters Force
Mohammed Nurul Anwar, Inspector, South Division

20 police personnel were given away
PRASHONGSHA PADAK

Zakir Hossain, Assistant Commissioner, Traffic DepartmentSukumar Chakraborty, Inspector

Namroz Ahmed Khan, Inspector, South Division
Balai Kumar Nath, Inspector, Detective Department
Sushanta Dhar, Inspector, Special Task Force
Amit Kumar Nath, Inspector, Traffic Department
Satijiban Nath, Assistant Commissioner, Traffic Department
Barinder Singh Kabrewal, Inspector, Special Task Force
Sukriti Kumar Poddar, Inspector, Kolkata Armed Police
Pabitra Kumar Mukherjee, Inspector, Special Branch
Sadhan Kr Ghosh, Sub Inspector, Enforcement Branch
Amit Sengupta, Sub Inspector, South Division
Sk Qutubuddin, Sergeant, Special Task Force
Sacchidanand Sarkar, Subedar, 2nd Battalion, K.A.P
Shib Ranjan Sinha, Sub Inspector, South Division
Paritosh Kumar Mishra, Assistant Sub Inspector, 7th Battalion, K.A.P
Rezaul Haque , Assistant Sub Inspector, Central Division
Jitendra Nath Panda, Constable, Central Division
Anilbaran Poti, Constable, Central Division
Subodh Ranjan Ganguly, Constable, Central Division

SEBA PADAK

Prosenjit Som, Inspector, Traffic Department
Priya Das, Lady Inspector, Head Quarter Force
Debasish Ghosh, Inspector, Traffic Department
Biplab Kumar Singha, Inspector, Traffic Department
Gautam Kr Das, Inspector, Special Task Force
Supratik Bandyopadhyay, Sub Inspector, Detective Department
Ramal Kanti Saha, Sub Inspector, Special Branch
Subarna Dutta Chowdhury, Sub Inspector, North Division
Nil Kantha Roy, Sub Inspector, Detective Department
Monoj Dutta, Sub Inspector, Special Task Force
Soumn Bandyopadhyaya, Sub Inspector, Special Task Force
Amarendra Saha, Sergeant, Traffic Department
Prasanta Heto, Sergeant, Special Task Force
Barun Kr. Chowdhury, Sergeant, Special Task Force
Subhash Biswas, Assistant Sub Inspector, Enforcement Branch
Gabriel Soren, Assistant Sub Inspector, Special Branch
Pachugopal Mukherjee, Assistant Sub Inspector, 2nd Battalion, K.A.P
Subhro Majumdar, Constable, Reserve Force
Bibhuti Bhushan Sarkar, Constable, Reserve Force
Narayan Ch Chakraborty, Constable, Police Training School
Jhuma Rani Mondal, Lady Constable, Detective Department
Ulfat Tamang, Sepoy, 3rd Battalion, K.A.P
Kanai Kotal, Sepoy, 3rd Battalion, K.A.P
Kinkar Banerjee, Police Driver, 2nd Battalion, K.A.P
Subhas Sharma, Assistant Sub Inspector, Mounted Police

With the series victory over theWest Indiesin his pocket, a relaxed Dhoni made sure that he visited his “old friends” at the police headquarters. Earlier in February 2010, his love for old motorbikes led Dhoni to the city police headquarters at Lalbazar. Dhoni knew that a number of old motorbikes are lying in Lalbazar and he used the opportunity of being in the city for the second Test againstSouth Africato visit the police headquarters.

The highlight of his first trip to the police headquarters last February was riding a Yamaha RD-350, a lightweight motorbike from the Seventies that was parked inside Lalbazar. Labazar has had two such bikes. A bonding grew instantly.

After a wholesome lunch, Mahi showered a fulsome praise on the city police, particularly traffic cops for keeping Kolkata streets congestion-free. “He told us that he found the city’s traffic better managed than most other cities. Mahi emphasized that this has been quite an old perception of his about the city. He had this feeling even before he became a national cricketer, when he would often visit the city,” a senior officer said.

But this second visit was a longer one with MSD, whose wife Sakshi is a Kolkata girl. He spent over two hours with the cops. Dressed in half sleeves paired with jeans, Mahi entered Lalbazar at 1.10 pm. His first stop was commissioner R.K. Pachnanda’s office on the first floor of the main building, where the entire police top brass was waiting for him.

He was next taken to the briefing room, where the cops gifted him a memento embellished with the flags of various departments of Kolkata police. “We felicitated him on behalf of Kolkata police for leading the World Cup-winning team,” said Jawed Shamim, joint commissioner of police (headquarters).

Lunch followed the felicitation. “We had arranged for everything from Indian vegetarian dishes to continental and Chinese. Dhoni chose the Chinese,” the officer said. Dhoni then delighted the cops with stories about cricket. “He spoke very highly of his teammates. He was all praise for Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh,” said an officer who calls himself a “big fan” of the skipper. Police officers found him very humble and friendly.

In the evening of 14.10.11, a get-together with the ‘Pronam’ members was organized at Allen Park in celebration of the festival of Eid & Vijaya. All the fifty ‘Pronam’ members of Park street police station area joined the program. Interaction was made with them on various projects of Kolkata police. They were  assured of with all sort of co-operation. The elderly citizens appreciated the role of Kolkata police and the program ended in a sweet note with a pleasant heart felt wishes from the elderly members.

Since we have worn uniform, our puja is to ensure that your festivity remains unspoilt.

A lot of planning and efforts go on behind our preparation for the puja just to ensure that you puja becomes an unalloyed joy; that you never get stuck in snarl too long; that your pandal hopping remains smooth. So, I thought I put some of the challenges we face and overcome during the festive seasons into a perspective.

It’s a year-long preparation that culminates into our on-the-field exercises all through five successive nights, starting from Shasthi to Dashami, the first day of immersion.  Durga puja to us is all about tackling numerous challenges like managing huge pedestrian traffic, particularly, near big puja pandals during puja days, keeping the mammoth traffic rolling, being extra alert and vigilant with possible threat of terrorist attack on the back of our mind. Besides, these there were uncertain weather and power situation and bad roads near big puja pandals.

In fact, our elaborate traffic arrangement itself matches any festivity if you look at its extent and magnitude. Besides, the nitty-gritty of traffic circulation plan, we construct barricades near puja pandals. Regulation and channelising of vehicular and pedestrian traffic is a major challenge. Then there were series of meetings at police station level, divisional level and of course at central level. All through we have to coordinate with power utility CESC and Fire Service, our two major partners in the process.

So on a daily basis, almost round the clock, we had to coordinate with public utlility services, inspect roads, intervene with voluntary agencies, PWD, CESC, Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners. The city police construct barricades near puja pandals.  The officers-in-charge of police stations had to interact with puja committees on day-to-day basis. We also had to put a strict vigil over forcible collection of chanda (donation or subscription). We engage a large number of NCC volunteers.

A festivity of such a colossal scale involves some risks, too, keeping in mind the security senario across the nation. Terrorists choose to strike, when casualty is likely be immense. So we carried out a massive check-up at guest houses, hotels and other places. We set up watch-towers for a better ‘bird-eye’ vigil at big puja pandals. At the same time, we kept rounding up known snatchers, lifters, pickpockets for a crime-free ambience. Along side the huge security exercises, we keep in mind not to be a spoiler. Our police excess should never dampen your festive spirit.

Just deployment-wise, it is a massive man-power management exercise. There is a deployment of 24,000 policemen, 3,000 home guards, 1500 green police volunteers, 1500 NCC and other volunteers forces and traffic wardens. During day-time, there is a skeleton deployment of forces for traffic movement and anti-crime measures. During day there is more insisting parking near pandals.

Durga puja – 2011 is over and we have less than one year now for the next Durga Puja – 2012. We are collecting feed backs from all officers for implementation for the next year, while preparing Police and other arrangements for the next year. Our annual examination is just over. Hopefully, we have passed the exam gracefully. You are the best judge.

The September 22 witnessed the most intense battle of the nation’s biggest football tournament as KMC 100 Days played the final match against Kartik-er Paribar. It was battle between two gutsy teams with their ‘never-to-die’ attitude. Finally, KMC 100 Days emerged champion in nail-biting tie-breaker. 480 teams participated in this year’s para football tournament.

In two other sections of the tournaments — College Footers and School Footers — where 31 colleges and 75 schools respectively took part. In the College Footers Final,NetajiNagarDayCollegeemerged victorious overSarsunaDayCollegeand in School Footers, Sukhchar Vidyayatan became triumphant overJakiaHigh School.

“Each of three winning teams gets Rs 35,000 as prize money and runner ups get Rs 25,000. Four players from three tournaments will be sent abroad for a short-training course. They will also get to watch premium league matches there,” said Kolkata Police Chief R K Pachnanda at the closing ceremony on 22^nd September attended by the Additional Chief Secretary Dr G D Gautama as the chief guest.

The biggest reward of the tournament is perhaps, the international exposure the best of the footballers get after the tournament. In 2006, the ESPN took four best footballers of the tournament toChelsea. In 2008, four players were taken to Bayern Munich. Six best footballers of 2010 will again go to Bayern Munich for 7-day training, said a senior community policing wing official. Football legends like Oliver Kahn, Gerd Muller, Romario have attended the kick-off programmes ofParafootball tournament. The programme at Body Guard Lines was also attended by football legends like P K Banerjee, Nayeemuddin, Sukumar Samajpati, Santi Mallick, Sabir Ali.

The Friendship Cup, 2011 was kicked off on July 30. On an average day, 42 -45 matches are being held across 22 to 25 football grounds. “If you just look at the scale of the tournament, it has hardly any parallel,” said additional commissioner of police Debasish Roy.

The tournament which was conceived as an effective tool for engaging teenagers and youths into physically challenging game, so that they do not get into crime. Moreover, they also feel that they are contributing to the society. It was so popular that in 2007, 561 clubs participated in it and it hit the Limca Book of Records.

“We then regulated the entry of clubs. We made sure that only registered clubs participate in the tournament. So now the number of clubs range from 460 to 480. And every year, the standard of the matches is improving. Now, nearly a dozen of footballers from the tournaments have become professional footballers who regularly play in different first and second division clubs,” said Soven Banerjee, officer-in-charge of Community Policing.

Initiated in 1997 to create solid bridge between the city police and public,Parafootball went international in 2007. London Metropolitan Police Services replicated the model through English Premier League (EPL). EPL held an exchange programme between Met Police and Kolkata Police inLondonin March this year to take this model forward by sharing experiences. The Kolkata Police team includes premier football clubs of Kolkata.

“Kolkata Police has mapped the crime pattern vis-a-vis locality for the Kolkatans. Friendship Cup shows how their para football has left a positive impact on communities across the city and identified present and future challenges,” said commissioner of police R K Pachnanda.

TheParafootball tournaments’ have remained the most effective relationship tool for us to build bridges with communities. It was also to inculcate the value of sportsmanship in youths and to keep them away from crime. It was enhanced after civic police volunteers were recruited from these clubs. We keep receiving crucial inputs on criminals and strangers,” said a senior officer.

Para Football is the biggest football tournament inAsiaby the sheer number of players’ participation. More than 8,000 footballers are involved. These youths often play a vital role in helping police when a trouble breaks out or a crime happens. So, it became a model worth emulating in terror-torn Lalgarh, where state police also organised football matches to improve police-people relationship.

Kolkata:

“It used to take me over an hour to travel from my Naktala house to my Dalhousie office. Since September 1 (when the change happened), the time has reduced to 35 to 38 minutes. It is a major change in our lives,” said Apratim Bose, a senior banker.

But how did the magic happen? A senior Kolkata Police traffic officer said they had simply stuck to the basics. “We did not try anything extraordinary. Of course, our enforcement has been much intensive and persistent. But there is huge room for further improvement with certain small modifications.”

In Behala, where traffic snarls were regular and persisted throughout the day along two major thoroughfares — James Long Sarani and D H Road — the change seems even more dramatic. Even in peak hours, traffic moves at a reasonable speed, much to the relief of commuters. “It is like a morning after a nightmare,” said Surya Narayan Tiwari, a railway employee from Sakher Bazar.

One of the very basics of traffic management is road-marking. In the added area, there was no marking on the road. “The first thing we did is to get our road-marking team to paint stop-lines and zebra crossings, which were needed urgently. The absence of these small yet important aspects made traffic jostle for space in the middle of the crossing, inhibiting faster dispersal,” said another officer.

The city police will gradually put all traffic under CCTV monitoring. Moreover, cameras to capture the registration number plates of errant vehicles will also be installed so that even in non-traffic hours — 10 pm to 7 am — motorists do not dare to violate traffic rules and jump signals. “But for the time being, we trying to maintain a synchronized traffic movement through a wireless communication between one crossing and another,” the officer added.

Rajeshwary Dutta, a teacher from Jadavpur, said: “Kolkata Police is doing a commendable job. Earlier, it used to take me 30 minutes to merely cross Jadavpur police station from my house, which I can now cross in less than 15 minutes. It is a big relief.”

Drishya Basu of Kasba said since traffic movement has remained the same in Kasba and from Ramlal Bazar to Rathtalla, the change has not been complete. “It was madness earlier. Now there is a method in the madness,” smiled Basu.

Aniruddha Bagchi, a banker, felt the change was too good to continue for long. “I am a bit skeptical that the systematic traffic movement which has been brought in by Kolkata Police will be sustained. There is a fresh enthusiasm on the part of the police who are eager to prove a point. If they can sustain it and improve it further, I have to salute them.”

On September 1, 2011, it came full circle for the city police with its jurisdiction just being doubled of what it was so far — from a police district covering 89 square km to 187 square kilometer, spread across the entire Kolkata Municipal Corporation area.

Like most other metropolitan cities, Kolkata has grown a lot, particularly south and east-wards. Places like Behala and Jadavpur have long back become urban hubs. Kolkata police is equipped to handle these urban intricacies, pressures and situations. The expansion also aims at cutting down the response time. “With 17 police stations in the added areas, we will be able to reach the spot of crime faster. That will also boost the police-public relations. We will also be coordinating with hospitals, schools and for better surveillance, systematic disaster-management,” said a senior police officer.

Nine police stations from the southern fringes of the city are split into 17 police stations under Kolkata police’s command on Thursday. Ten traffic guards are being created to bring order to some of the busiest stretches of Kolkata that had so long remained outside the city police’s ambit. This has been a long-standing demand of people of this added areas.

“It is a great responsibility for us. There is a huge expectation of better policing from the residents of these extended zone. So we are striving hard to keep up with the expectation of people from these areas. Some of the best officers from Kolkata police have been posted as officers-in-charge of and assistant commissioners there. A deputy commissioner (traffic) will look after the traffic of this zone,” said Police Commissioner R K Pachnanda.

In the added area, police stations are coming under four divisions. Two new divisions — south suburban (Jadavpur) and South West Divisions (Behala) have been created. Rest of the police stations will be merged with the existing South east division and port division. But even then the people-police ratio in the added area will be a bit skewed.

Kolkata police top-brass is, thus, emphasising on intelligent policing. A lot of plain-clothe personnel will be working, besides the uniformed police personnel of 17 police stations. So a lot of back-up support will be there from the specialised wings like Special Branch (SB), Enforcement Branch (EB), Detective Department (DD), Special Task Force (STF). For law and order problems we will have rapid action force (RAF), anti rioting force, quick reaction teams (QRT), disaster management group (DMG), trauma care ambulance will be there. 10 radio flying squads (RFS) and two heavy radio flying squads (HRFS) that are meant for area patrolling have been deployed in these two new divisions. There will be a lot more supervision.

The most visible change will, of course, be traffic management. “Since we have developed certain successful models of traffic management, we will implement them in the added areas. We will also take the help of technology and superior surveillance system. Gradually the signalling system will be synchronised. Parking in the added areas is very erratic. So we have to set right a few things to ensure a smooth traffic movement. Apart from traffic, law and order and crime detection are also my priorities. We have specialised sections to deal with these aspects,” said the city police chief.

The phone nos. of the seventeen new Police Stations & ten new Traffic Guards of Kolkata Police.

POLICE STATIONS

Behala police station — 23967350/23975050
Parnashree police station — 2488-7172/24098212
Thakurpukur police station — 24976680/24616004
Haridevpur police station — 24034040/24098213
Kasba police station — 24420164/24418500
Garfa police station — 24186949/24991998
Regent Park police station — 23813162/23110592
Bansdroni police station — 24101022/23110592
Purba Jadavpur police station — 24267345/24166203
Survey Park police station — 24165686/24165542
Jadavpur police station — 24730146/24994580
Patuli police station — 24625195/24624122
Metiabruz police station — 24695317/24099179
Rajabagan police station — 24099175/24099176
Nadial police station — 24894079/24099172
Tiljala police station — 2343 4693/23452827
Pragati Maidan police station — 22850500/22851507

TRAFFIC GUARDS

Metiabruz Traffic Guards- 24099173/24099174
James long sarani Traffic Guards-23975018/23975019
D.h. Road Traffic Guards-24883872/24098210
Regent park Traffic Guards-24994701/24994706
Jadavpur Traffic Guards-24994568/24994567
Garia Traffic Guards-24309424/24309434
Kasba Traffic Guards-24165758/24165939
Purba jadavpur Traffic Guards-24165855/24165696
Tiljala Traffic Guards-22851505/2285/1506
Thakurpukur Traffic Guards-24073838/24616003

Kolkata on Wednesday was elevated to the league of elite eight cities that have set up cyber labs to deal with most intriguing crimes in the virtual world — in internet. Since this century is predicted to be the century of crime in the cyber space, such laboratory would be the most handy to ‘net-sleuths.’

The other cities with cyber labs are Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Chennai, Hyderabad and Haryana. Initiated by the Data Security Council of India  (DSCI) and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Kolkata Police now has the first of its kind cyber lab in Eastern India.

Inaugurated on August 10, by the state industries and information technology minister Shri Partha Chatterjee, the lab will equip the prosecution (police) and judiciary with necessary capacities to deal with cyber security and cyber crime issues and investigation. The lab will also provide guidance to the IT industries in the event of any cyber security breaches.

Nasscom first set up the Mumbai cyber lab way back in 2003. The objective, as envisaged then, was to bridge the ever-increasing gap between cyber crime and the state police’s ability to handle it. “In Kolkata, now there is a dedicated police station to probe cyber crime. The lab would be of immense help to them,” said Joint Commissioner (crime) Damayanti Sen.

Efficacy of this lab can be gauged by the fact that 4,634 officers have been trained at these four cyber labs in Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Bnagalore. Add to it another 1,366 people from banks, IT and central excise departments, military, bar associations, and schools and colleges who have participated in outreach programmes on cyber security awareness held at these labs.

Nasscom regional director (East) Suparno Moitro said “The primary objective is to form a pool of trainers or resource persons, who will train all stakeholders, mostly from law enforcement agencies.” The lab will conduct training in computer forensic (live and dead system), credit card frauds, online offences, method of cyber crime investigation and seizure of digital evidences.

Armed with two forensic work stations, access data forensic tool kit, password recovery software, write blocker, C-DAC cyber Check Suite, device forensic suite, numerous software analysis devices, E-fence sotware, the lab is ready to function.

Mooted in 2009 after the Bangalore cyber lab, the proposal to set up a similar cyber lab in Kolkata was repeatedly plagued due to lack of private financial backing. The logjam was cleared by the new government, specially the department of IT, which sponsored the project.

Nation’s biggest football tournament or Kolkata para football league — Friendship Cup, 2011 — was kicked off on July 30. This year as many as 467 teams from all across the city have participated in this tournament, organised by Kolkata Police. On an average day, 42 -45 matches are being held across 22 to 25  football grounds. “If you just look at the scale of the tournament, it has hardly any parallel,” said additional commissioner of police Debasish Roy.

The tournament which was conceived as an effective tool for engaging teenagers and youths into physically challenging game so that they do not get into crime. Moreover, they also feel that they are contributing to the society.  It was so popular that in 2007, 561 clubs participated in it and it hit the Limca Book of Records.

“We then regulated the entry of clubs. We made sure that only registered clubs participate in the tournament. So now the number of clubs range from 460 to 480. And every year, the standard of the matches is improving. Now, nearly a dozen of footballers from the tournaments have become professional footballers who regularly play in different first and second division clubs,” said Soven Banerjee, officer-in-charge of Community Policing.

Initiated in 1997  to create solid bridge between the city police and public, para football went international in 2007. London Metropolitan Police Services replicated the model through English Premier League (EPL). EPL held an exchange programme between Met Police and Kolkata Police in London in March this year to take this model forward by sharing experiences. The Kolkata Police team includes premier football clubs of Kolkata.

“Kolkata Police has mapped the crime pattern vis-a-vis locality for the Kolkatans. Friendship Cup shows how their para football has left a positive impact on communities across the city and identified present and future challenges,” said commissioner of police R K Pachnanda.

The Para football tournaments’ have remained the most effective relationship tool for us to build bridges with communities. It was also to inculcate the value of sportsmanship in youths and to keep them away from crime. It was enhanced after civic police volunteers were recruited from these clubs. We keep receiving crucial inputs on criminals and strangers,” said a senior officer.

Para Football is the biggest football tournament in Asia by the sheer number of players’ participation. More than 8,000 footballers are involved. These youths often play a vital role in helping police when a trouble breaks out or a crime happens. So, it became a model worth emulating in terror-torn Lalgarh , where state police also organised football matches to improve police-people relationship.

The biggest reward of the tournament, is perhaps, the international exposure the best of the footballers get after the tournament. In 2006, the ESPN took four best footballers of the tournament to Chelsea. In 2008, four players were taken to Bayern Munich. Six best footballers of 2010 will again go to Bayern Munich for 7-day training, said a senior community policing wing official. Football legends like Oliver Kahn, Gerd Muller, Romario have attended the kick-off programmes of Para football tournament.

The Friendship Cup which was kicked off in presence of the state finance minister Amit Mitra, sports minister Madan Mitra and mayor Sovan Chatterjee will be concluded on September 17.