05 Nov Seminar at Mumbai B Ed College

To drive a change in the security of commuters, the Railway Protection Force of Western Railways is reaching out to college-going students in Mumbai. Anand Vijay Jha, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of Railway Protection Force Western Railways, invited CrowdGuard to co-facilitate a safety seminar for women commuters at the Mumbai B Ed College for Women in Wadala on 4. November 2015.

Speaking about the challenges the Railway Protection Force is solving and how they are making an impact on millions of commuters day by day, Anand Vijay Jha shared personal anecdotes with the students, while reminding them to be alert at all times, to speak up against violence and to reach out to the security forces for everyone’s good.

Megha Mishra and Philip Sunil Urech from CrowdGuard build upon the importance of alertness and taught the students how to identify potentially dangerous situations, understand the behaviour of the crowd, and help others by applying the ‘STOP Model’, which reminds helpers to first ensure one’s own safety, followed by talking to the assaulted while deflecting the perpetrator, organising help from passers-by and the police, and last but not least by providing peer-support which also improves community resilience.

The seminar went for over 2 hours, including topics varying from insights to policing strategies, safety improvements, civil cooperation, focusing on some major issues such as making a safety plan, the bystander barriers and how to overcome them. Stressing on the need and importance of bridging the gap in between the police and citizens, Anand Vijay Jha, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of Railway Protection Force Western Railways, said “one can only collectively reduce crime”, and encouraged the students to “use the tools right next to you like Facebook and Whatsapp, to create evidence, to report, and to bring to our knowledge anything that you notice going wrong. So that things can happen at a rapid pace and we can work together to reduce crime.”

Thanks to all the students and the personnel of the Railway Protection Force for your engaged participation, and to the Principal Dr. Rihana Inamdar for hosting us at your campus.