Chennai:
The Flower Bazaar Police Station in Chennai turns into a picnic spot as nearly 50 children, about eight or nine years old, walk in to explore the place. All staffers here are on call, not for any crime or panic but for a guided tour for the little student visitors. As part of their Joy of Giving celebrations, they take them around explaining the role of the police and the police station, showing all places from the reception to the lock up room for the accused.
The young visitors who are largely afraid of the police are also told about the helpline numbers they can dial to get police help besides tips on filing police complaints. The idea is to make children feel comfortable visiting a police station and helping them to shed fear towards men in khaki.
"Earlier I used to be scared to go to police. Now I have no such fear. I see police to be good. They are like friends. Only when we do wrong we should be scared of them," said a student Praveen.
Another young student N Upendran says "Now I know we should dial 104 to rescue any old person".
The children also got to lay their hands on police weapons like the old bayonet and pistol besides demonstrations by experts. The two-hour exercise had a positive impact. Now many want to become police.
"30 students now want to become police officer. That's a big achievement for us," said police inspector Sundaram.
Sophia Shalom, a Volunteer with Daan Utsav, adds "These children have now understood the role of police, how they are like friends".
Though a small gesture by police, it generated a lot of goodwill among generation next, something their routine hard work often fails to achieve.