One reprimand leads to a memo: No jeans and T-shirt for Bengaluru Special Branch staff

They are in a dilemma on what they should wear without jeopardising their intelligence-gathering activity.
Bengaluru police commissioner Alok Kumar.
Bengaluru police commissioner Alok Kumar.

BENGALURU: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar did not intend it to be that way, but his lambasting of an ACP for coming to his chamber casually dressed, has put the policemen attached to intelligence wing of the Special Branch in a tight spot. They are in a dilemma on what they should wear without jeopardising their intelligence-gathering activity.

Manjunath Babu, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Special Branch (Field and Admin), who was at the receiving end, issued a memo to the Special Branch’s intelligence men that they should compulsorily wear formals, failing which they could face punishment. 

In the memo, he stated that it had come to his notice that policemen, including the rank of police inspectors, wore jeans and T-shirts while on duty, and that henceforth, all staff will have to wear only formals. He further stated that none should wear slippers. He warned of strict action against anyone who flouted this dress code.

Memo on uniforms had been issued even earlier, but the staff working in crime, intelligence or special duty were exempted from it. 

However, this memo - prompted by top cop Alok Kumar’s reprimand to one individual officer — has been specifically issued to the intelligence and special duty policemen. Alok Kumar said, “I told him about wearing formals only for the staff who work in the office. It is not for the staff who go into the field and crime work.”

ACP Babu admitted: “I have issued the memo, but it is only for attending meetings or meeting senior officers. Not when they go to the field.”

A police officer attached to the intelligence wing of the Special Branch told TNIE that most information on anti-social activities is collected from people involved in such activities. “We have to go to places like bars, gambling dens, prostitution hubs, live bands to collect information. At times, we just spend time at these places to meet informants or hear conversations among people and get leads on crimes. If we go in formals, we will be easily identified, because no doctor or engineer goes to such places,” he rued.

A police officer attached to the intelligence wing of the Special Branch told The New Indian Express, “Once we are exposed, they will stop talking about their crimes fearing us, and even informants will start demanding more money assuming us to be senior officers (because of the prim-and-proper clothes).” 

The men also said compulsory formal dress means more expenses as most of them did not have such clothes. Another officer said, “We don’t have formal clothes to wear them daily, so we have to buy new clothes now. We understand if officers of the rank of police inspectors and above have to wear only formals, but for lower ranks it will not work out. Let alone not wearing uniforms, often we have to even grow beard and grow our hair long to go to places to mingle with the crowd and collect information. This kind of memo will only hamper our activities.”

But the memo, accessed by The New Indian Express, does not specify it, and ACP Babu admits that if field officers wore formals even a common man would identify them as policemen.

When asked about him receiving a blasting from the police chief, Babu was defensive: “It was not me. A police inspector was wearing pant which looked like jeans, but it was not. So the commissioner asked him to wear formals. It is not a new memo, such orders have been issued even in the past.”

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