Friends of Police: a community policing initiative that was shut down in Tamil Nadu after the 2020 Sathankulam custodial deaths

It was in 1993 that the then Superintendent of Police, Ramanathapuram, Pradeep V. Philip launched the ‘Friends of Police’ (FOP) initiative with a small group of volunteers. The move was to bridge the gap between the police and public by allowing local youth to participate in basic policing. The FOP volunteers readily agreed to work with and for the police in guarding the shores of Ramanathapuram district. Thus came into existence an innovative community policing mechanism – ‘Friends of Police’.

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A year later, the then Director General of Police (DGP) S. Sripal commended the work of ‘Friends of Police’ and recommended introduction of the voluntary movement in other districts. It was only a matter of time after that. FOP teams were formed in cities and districts. Thousands of youth volunteered to join the movement over the years and the ‘Friends of Police’ initiative that always functioned under the direct supervision of the police, emerged as an essential component of night patrolling and vehicle checks across Tamil Nadu.

Pradeep V. Philip in July 2008
| Photo Credit:
V. Ganesan

Commissioners/Superintendents of Police were empowered to induct volunteers seeking to work as FOP. After a basic verification of their antecedents, they were imparted basic training on dealing with the public. Being a voluntary service, there was no remuneration and any perks.

Intelligence gathering

For the Tamil Nadu police, the ‘Friends of Police’ was not only seen as additional manpower but a strategy to enhance the image of the police force, open up channels of communication and provide a reservoir of goodwill. The volunteers later went on to work with the police for traffic regulation, crowd management duties at temple festivals and most importantly, they played a crucial role in gathering intelligence at the grassroots level on the movement of strangers, especially foreign nationals, smugglers and extremists, and alert the police on any grouping of people in pursuance of any unlawful activity in their respective jurisdictions.

Explaining the basic objectives of ‘Friends of Police’, Mr. Philip wrote in an article that the police, all over the world, were isolated from friends and foes alike. The police force in every nation suffers from a problem of not just a ‘no image’ or ‘low image’ but highly ‘negative image’.

The general impression was that the police was a blunt instrument to act according to the whims and fancies of the powers-that-be. Complaints of torture and custodial violence had further accentuated the negative image. An atmosphere of lack of trust, respect and confidence between the public and police prevailed. “The irony is that although the police exist for the sake of the public, they work in a vacuum of a lack of goodwill, lack of information and feedback and a general lack of cooperation,” he wrote in the article published in The Hindu.

Referring to the Rodney King incident of police brutality and public relations in the U.S., he said the phenomenon of ‘police isolation’ and ‘public antagonism’ was global. Hence, there was an urgent need for aggressive social marketing of the police. The essence of the ‘Friends of Police’ movement was to foster and crystallise the hitherto untapped sentiments of goodwill for the police that existed among the public. “The FOP movement will end the social isolation imposed on the police, individually and as an organisation….”

The voluntary work of the ‘Friends of Police’ lasted over 25 years. Though there were some complaints of high-handedness or petty incidents of violence involving members of the FOP, it was too trivial to question the purpose and existence of the organisation considering its larger service to the community. In 2002, the ‘Friends of Police’ won the prestigious Queen’s Award from the U.K. for Innovation in Police Training and Development. The 15,000 GBP reward was used for the development of FOP.

Curtains in 2020

However, on July 8, 2020, the Tamil Nadu Government issued an order revoking the ‘Friends of Police’ movement on the basis of an adverse report from the then DGP J.K. Tripathy.

J.K. Tripathy in June 2019
| Photo Credit:
M. Vedhan

The role of volunteers was alleged in the custodial torture and subsequent deaths of 58-year-old trader P. Jayaraj and his 31-year-old son J. Benicks at Sattankulam police station in Thoothukudi district during lockdown owing to COVID-19 pandemic. The FOP, however, denied the allegations saying that none of its members was involved in the incident.