The Delhi Police must make the common man the focus of their activities, said former IPS officer Kiran Bedi. Her remarks came in the wake of allegations of the 'inhuman' handling of the Delhi gangrape victim and her male friend by the Delhi Police.

"The current police leadership does not understand crime prevention because they have not worked on it like we did. We believed crime prevention is better than crime detection. Through sensitivity, through education, through involvement in community, police can prevent crime," Bedi said, while speaking on the sidelines of the silver jubilee celebrations of Navjyoti Foundation - an organisation she launched with other serving police officers in 1988 to prevent crime through community service.

Bedi stressed upon the need for community policing.

"The police should induct people as citizen wardens and in case of any suspicious activity or ruffian elements, the onus should be on citizens to report such activity. They can be given basic training and regular orientations. Even the security guards of societies can be given some training. In our time, we had a chowkidars' parade regularly at the police station," Bedi said.

The former inspector general of Tihar also said that the police should enlist the help of resident welfare associations in fighting crime and regularly hold meetings with them.

"The local police stations can call representatives of resident associations, schools, spiritual groups and others from the locality so that they can discuss their problems. Fifty per cent of those should be women so that violence against women can be reported," she said.