The city police are forming more police boys and girls clubs to prevent children from socially and economically backward areas from falling into bad ways.
Originally, the police boys clubs were started in 2003 in Tamil Nadu as a crime prevention strategy. At present, there are 60 such clubs functioning in Chennai in slums and economically backward areas.
The primary objective of the club is to engage the children in constructive activities such as sports and literary works so that the opportunities for them to come in contact with the anti-social elements and criminals during evening hours is reduced.
Commissioner of Police Shankar Jiwal said the crime data revealed that many criminals now had come in contact with criminals during their childhood. In Chennai, there are many slums and slum clearance tenements which require these clubs for the children.
Considering various factors and after extensive analysis, 51 places had been identified for new boys and girls clubs in the city. “The clubs will start from January 1,” said Mr. Jiwal. As many as 32 clubs would be set up in north zone, six in west zone, two in west zone and 11 in south zone.
“We go out and reach the children living in socially and economically backward areas and tell them that we have facilities for educational and recreational aspects. These clubs have small libraries for inculcating reading habits, computers and other teaching facilities,” he said.
“We help them grow academically by guiding, counselling and giving sports coaching. Whatever these children want, we try to help them out. We conduct two-hour sessions every day on different aspects and will find out what talent they have, their aspirations, and see if we can sponsor them or make arrangements for sponsors,” he said.
“People should know about computers and now not all have access to computers and laptops. We will have at least eight computers in each of these clubs and conduct classes. Also lot of these children from these clubs surprisingly are very good at sports. We are arranging sports coaching so that they can go to a higher level,” said Mr. Jiwal.
Companies such as HCL and Saint Gobain have adopted these clubs. The city police doubled honorarium for the scoutmaster and caretaker who facilitated the activities of clubs and made it attractive for people who can teach and spend extra time. The city police are tying up with resource persons who can give motivational speeches.
