If you are ‘Pos’itive enough ‘Poss’ibilities will be unfurled in front of you. Trust in Pos- Poss , Live in Pos-Poss.
P Vijayan
Inspector General of Police
He failed the SSLC Examination on his first attempt. But that was not going to stop a dreamer and doer from achieving his life’s goals. To support his family and continue his studies, he had to work at a soap factory and take tuition classes. Many a time, he had to learn in the meagre light of a kerosene lamp, but he was determined that one day he would bring light to the whole world. His self-explorative journey helped him create inimitable academic credentials in his later years. He completed his MA in Economics and got qualified for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). His career reached its high point when he joined IPS in the year 1999. An exemplar of his philosophy of ‘latent capabilities exploration’, Vijayan IPS presents a sterling model for our youth to emulate.
As the first IPS officer to serve as Commissioner of all 4 Commissionerates of Kerala, he has led the investigation teams in many sensational cases, including the Kalamassery Bus Burning, Shabarimala Thantri, Chelembra Brank Robbery, and also e-mail threat against the Prime Minister. He addressed crime through effective, unbiased investigation & his administrative capability was well received by the highest echelons of Govt. wherein he innovated policing strategies & revamped police training.
Early in his career, he understood that conventional policing methods alone cannot reduce crime & create a law-abiding society. He brought in systemic changes within Police, & initiated Student Police Cadet (SPC) to redefine community policing. SPC today covers more than 800 schools, with 2.5 lakh high-school children moulded to become young change leaders. Shri Rajnath Singh, then Union Home Minister, in 2018, directed all states to follow Kerala SPC Model.
He believes that the responsibility of creating an excellent citizen rests on the entire community and not only the child’s parents. Our Responsibility to Children (ORC) was an initiative to correct deviant behavior through psycho-social interventions and reintegrate them into the mainstream. This was successfully implemented across 340 schools, transforming over 12,000 little lives. Project Candle Light (PCL) was yet another initiative to bring youth with criminal tendencies in a slum of Kochi back into the social stream. Project HOPE was rolled out to help early drop-outs from schools through education and imparting livelihood skills. One of the most popular projects was the Children & Police (CAP) initiative to prevent abuse and violence against children. Later, Chiri (Smile) was launched to provide a dedicated helpline for children to seek police support
From a child labourer at construction site to one of the most celebrated police officers in the country, the journey that P. Vijayan made through his life and career is nothing short of remarkable. This journey is the soul behind the thought bank that keeps him driving towards new innovations and provides him the energy to cross every obstacle in front of him. Life taught him that nothing is impossible for someone charged with the passion to move on.
But that drive has to be instilled right from an early age. That is why Vijayan focussed on children quite early in their career. Most of his change-making initiatives were formed around character building and enhancing the inner potential of children. Tomorrows are created through conscious and judicious investments made today.
Gone too are days when the worth of a person was decided with the volume of land or assets attached to that person. The modern age belongs to those who own knowledge. Information drives the world. The key to success in today’s highly volatile and competitive world is keeping oneself abreast with the latest knowledge. Vijayan realised this and designed programmes that are intended to explore and enhance the capabilities of children.
Another critical lesson that Vijayan gathered from his life experiences is that society can be broadly divided into two sets of people – problem people and solution people. The first category belongs to those who see only problems and spend their entire life struggling with problems. In the end, they might make the existing problem more complicated. On the other hand, those who are oriented towards solutions consist of the second group. They look beyond the problem and work towards the solution. Vijayan chose to remain in the second group. And that made all the difference.
- Union Home Minister’s Utkrishta Seva Medal in 2021
- Chief Minister’s Award for Public Policy Innovation in 2017
- Indian President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2015
- Matha Pursaskaram-2015’– the award for
outstanding contribution to society - CNN IBN Indian of the Year (Popular Choice) Award 2014
- Chief Minister’s Award for Public Policy Innovation in 2014
- Fellowship from John Hopkins University
- FICCI Award for ‘Best SMART Policing Initiative’
- Indian Icon Award by ‘Friends of Bahrain’
Chelembra Bank Robbery – India’s Money Heist by best selling author Anirban Bhattacharyya and published by Penguin, is based on the investigation done by the team under Mr. Vijayan and how they cracked the biggest bank heist in India in 2006 in just 56 days. This book has remained in Amazon Best seller in criminology category since its launch and is being adapted as a film with leading actors in the industry. The second book is titled “Adhikarathinte Sadyathakal – P. Vijayan IPSnte VidyabhasaSamoohya Pareekshanangal” (Possibilities of Power – the socio-educational experiments by P. Vijayan IPS) written by Dr. Amruth G. Kumar, renowned writer, theoretician and Dean of Faculty at the Central University Kasargod. A detailed study on Student Police Cadets and its success stories titled Schools That Dream: Transforming Kerala’s Schools into Empathy Engines written by Shashi Velath and Anand Haridas is currently in circulation.
