Tamil Nadu is considering reviving its Police Friends Committee to support law-and-order duties, traffic regulation and disaster-response work as senior police officials have reported staff shortages across the state, Dinamalar reported after a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay at the Secretariat.
The proposal was discussed during a review of law and order in the state. The meeting was attended by Law Minister Nirmalkumar, Chief Secretary Saikumar, Home Secretary Karthik, Director General of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Additional Director General of Prisons Shankar and Chennai Police Commissioner Amalraj, according to the report.
The reported discussion comes after a series of murders and robbery incidents in Chennai and other districts. The report said opposition parties have been campaigning against the government over the law-and-order situation, although it did not provide a state-wide crime assessment or details of the individual incidents.
Senior police officers told the Chief Minister that the state was facing a shortage of personnel and that officers in all districts were carrying additional workloads. Increasing the strength of the police force could help address the pressure, officials reportedly said.
However, recruiting and training new personnel and placing them in the armed police force would take more than a year, according to the report. The proposed Police Friends Committee is therefore being considered as an interim support mechanism for police personnel handling law-and-order responsibilities.
Under the reported proposal, volunteers would be required to have no criminal cases against them. They could work with traffic police to regulate vehicles in congested areas and conduct awareness campaigns on traffic rules. The report did not state how volunteers would be selected, trained, supervised or identified while assisting the police.
The volunteers could also provide advance information about suspicious individuals and criminal incidents, as well as local intelligence from areas where crime is reported to be high. Their role would involve passing information to the police rather than exercising police powers, based on the responsibilities described in the report.
The committee could additionally assist police during temple festivals, public meetings and other gatherings where crowd management is required. During floods and cyclones, volunteers may be involved in rescue and relief activities. They could also take residents’ problems and complaints to the attention of police officials.
The proposal places community volunteers alongside formal policing at a time when the state is reported to be managing a personnel gap. Its practical operation would depend on the government’s final decision, including the committee’s legal framework, accountability arrangements, training requirements and coordination with district police units. The report did not say when the committee would be formally reconstituted or whether a government order had been issued.
