Participatory Policing

Globally, theneed forasingleandsimple emergencynumber was felt after the Kitty Genovese tragedy in New York Cityin1964. About 37 neighbours heard Kitty's cries duringher murder butnone called police- highlightingapathy, and theabsenceofan easywaytocallhelp. Thecaseis thoughtto beoneofthereasons forthe 911 emergency callsystem that the United States has been usingsince1968.Itis basedon theideathat simplifyingthecallfor help couldovercome bystander hesitation

- SRINIVAS MADHAV SRIVANI MADHAV The writers are, respectively, a Transparency Advocate, and an M.S. (AI) student at Lewis University, Chicago

n broad daylight on a busy Hyderabad street in April 2023, a woman was suddenly attacked by a man wielding a knife. Five bystanders, including an auto driver, sprang into action, stopping the assault, tying a cloth around her bleeding neck, and rushing her to a hospital. “We consider it our duty to save a woman from any violence,” they said, their courage earning them recognition and ultimately saving her life.

These bystanders acted because they were therein the right place at the right time, witnessing the crisis unfold. But what if the same incident had occurred at night, on a dark street corner, with no one around to hear her cries? How could such heroes know a woman was in danger?

This is precisely the promise of the “112 India” initiative, a quietly launched, powerful citizen-centric safety tool under the national Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), rolled out by the Ministry of Home Affairs, with support from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, under the Nirbhaya Fund.

The National Annual Report & Index on Women’s Safety (NARI 2025), drawing on the experiences of over 12,400 women across 31 cities, reveals that 35.4 per cent of women feel unsafe in public spaces, and out of every 100 incidents of harassment, only 16 reach women’s helplines. This gap reflects low awareness and limited trust in existing support systems. 112 India has the potential to close this divide ~ making emergency help simpler, and importantly, community-backed, offering a trusted lifeline.

112 India unifies police, fire, ambulance, disaster response, and helplines for women and children under a single number: 112, India’s own 911. This integration eliminates the confusion of multiple helpline numbers like 100, 101, 108, 181, and others.As of March 2025, ERSS-112 reportedly handled 1.2 million calls per hour.