Community policing concept in Assam has been pursued in a very focused manner since 1950 when the Village Defence Organization was formally launched at the initiative of late Hari Narayan Baruah. VDO was formally institutionalized with the adoption of the Village Defence Act-1960. At present there are 11,000 nos of Village Defence Parties with a membership of 10 persons in each party and are operative in the state of Assam and rendering yeomen's services in conjunction with the police in prevention and detection of crime and also maintenance of law and order. However, during last one decade with incredible rise of population and its allied increase in crimes, the Assam Police, decided to seek community participation in police in order to bridge the gulf between the police and the public and to bring about their participation in policing themselves. To that extent, Neighbourhood watch committees were formed in Guwahati city by the then SP City, Shri K.Saikia, in some areas in Guwahati under the guidance of Shri R.N. Mathur, IGP.