[4] Civilian citizens having 'good social record'[5] like ex-army men, students,[6] advocates and housewives are responsible in tying up with the police beat staff to look after the law and order, traffic and crowd management, safety of women prevention of crime and informing about suspected elements around their area.

[12] Under Police Mitra scheme, any Indian citizen can volunteer by visiting the police web portal, filling a form, and selecting one or more than one of the 23 options, which include checking crime, environment conservation, helping in social media topics, enhancing awareness on human rights and awareness on anti-social elements.

The police mitra should be over 18 years of age and must not be a member of a political party as well as he/she should not have any past record of anti-social activity.

[13] According to Abhishek Jain, research assistant at Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, Police mitras being an extrajudicial force like erstwhile Special Police Officers (SPO) can be misused for surveillance and gathering intelligence on minorities and traditionally marginalised communities further intensifying mistrust.

[15] In January 2020, Supriya Sharma in Scroll.in reported police mitras in Uttar Pradesh were mostly members of particular political outfits after they baton charged protesters.