{ முகநூல் கருத்துக்கள்}{ட்விட்டர் கருத்துக்கள்}

Kayalpatnam has for long taken pride in not housing a police station on its soils. Unlike similarly placed towns elsewhere in Tamil Nadu (Keezhakarai, Adhirampatnam etc), this has always been the case historically (in addition to absence of movie theatres and liquour shops).

The pride indeed is justified. After all, Kayalpatnam is not a small town. There are about 40,000 men and women living here. It is a municipality (albeit classified as Grade 3) . People of many faiths live here (though Muslims are an overwhelming majority). It's people are not uniformly rich or uniformly poor; economic disparity exists (though not very sharp).

Officially, the police station in Arumuganeri, the neighbouring town, covers Kayalpatnam also - when it comes to law and order matters. This is done through routine visits to the town, visits during major events and through a network formally called Friends of Police (many locals derisively call it as informers network). This has - by and large - worked. So far, so good, but will this arrangement continue to work in future?

Kayalpatnam has reported a spate of crimes in recent months. There have been several cases of robberies reported. One such crime was so huge, it made news throughout Tamil Nadu. In addition to these, many families are worried about abduction of young children. Though this fear sometimes borders on paranoia, the fear is persistent and to add support to these fears - a handful of such cases have also been reported in recent times. Then, there are the usual problems - cases of small-time drug peddlars, gamblers and the like. Some local property disputes have on certain occasions been taken to the police too.

For centuries, Kayalpatnam has been a relatively calm place. Many reasons could be given for this, but the primary reason is - Kayalpatnam has always been a closed society. Also, given that it is a predominantly muslim town, certain social structures (like Jamaths) have kept a check on social problems getting out of control.

You wouldn't have noticed even a decade back - much economic activity within Kayalpatnam. Majority of the bread winners - earned their money outside the town. The town itself was largely full-time home to women, children and retirees only. This has changed. Today there is plenty of economic activity within the town, attracting daily visitors as well as new settlers. The character of the town is changing. All the changes are not for bad, but we must also remember, not all the changes are for good either.

Social initiatives on issues such as education and health would help the town in keeping the locals off from commiting crimes, yet they are no guarantees. Kayalpatnam must seriously consider replicating the structure a police presence would give - without giving room for a police station to emerge in its midst.

This can be done by setting up a civil protection force - made up entirely of local volunteers. They will not be lethally armed, but they would derive their strength in their numbers and planning. These volunteers can be deployed to do night rounds, to manage the crowd at major festival times and to monitor public places (such as beach, streets and bylanes) for criminals round-the-clock. Their work and legality can be smoothened - by co-ordinating with the police. People and various social-organisations can bear the cost of such an initiative.

We must remember better pride is in being owners of a town that has little or no crime; not just of a town that has no police station!