Nepal Police has launched the 'Police, My Friend' campaign from Monday.

The campaign, which also figures in the government's policy and programme statement for fiscal year 2016/017, has come into force in all the 75 districts. 

With this, all the community-focused activities and programmes of Nepal Police would be incorporated in the 'Police, My Friend' concept. 

The main objective of the campaign is to maintain law and order through the prevention of crime, accidents and social anomalies, rendering the police public-friendly by means of community contact at the community level and at schools throughout the country. 

It also aims to enhance the prestige of the police organisation by developing the thinking - police is my friend - and establishing contact accordingly in society. Before this, Nepal Police had started the 'Service with Smile' campaign to reach out to the public. 

Launching the campaign, Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet expressed that the campaign would contribute to enhancing the role the police has to fulfill in society and its role of institutionalising the norms and values of change. 

"It will not only help in raising awareness for meeting the responsibility of the functions and the dignity of the police force, it will contribute much also to maintaining peace and security at the citizen's level and to the development at the societal level," the Home Minister stated. 

He also gave directives to lay emphasis on the effective implementation of the campaign rather than limit it in slogan only. Minister Basnet also hoped that quality results would be achieved if the campaign is linked to all other programmes of the police. 

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Upendra Kanta Aryal assured that the police organization abides by rules and procedure rather the command of any person. He argued that the campaign has narrowed down the gap between the expectation of the public and services of the police. 

Similarly, culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi stressed including such campaign in the school curriculum as it highlights the concept about the police service. 

On the occasion, Minister Basnet had felicitated Head Constable Rudra Kumal and Constable Sandip Kumal with cash prize as they had courageously rescued the landslide affected locals at Ri village in the Dhading district. RSS