THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The recent crimes, including the burglary at a house near Thumba, might usher in a new change in the way police patrolling is done in the city. The police top echelons feel that cooperation of the public is a must to fight the evil designs of the organised criminal gangs and burglars who carefully plan their operations. To achieve the said objective, the City Police is likely to adopt the community policing scheme being implemented by the Medical College police.
The community policing was implemented at the station a year ago and has been successfully going on ever since. The participation of the public has been of immense help to the Medical College Hospital as they now hold a better leverage over local populace.
City Police Commissioner P Prakash said the community policing being implemented by Medical College police could be extended across the city as it has been proven effective in crime prevention at the ground level. “Community policing is a good initiative in intelligence collection as well as regulating crime at the grassroots. Community policing is one aspect of neighbourhood watch which has become a key constituent in the policy of western countries in combating organised crimes and terrorism. What the Medical College Police is doing can be successfully implemented in the urban localities,” Prakash said.
Police bosses believe the community policing would suit stations like Peroorkada and Museum as they are out and out urban stations with less number of criminal cases being registered. In the case of stations where severe law and order issues regularly arise, community policing would be a hazardous job, something the police bosses are well aware of. “Community policing won’t be possible in stations where severe law and order issues are regularly reported,” police sources said.
Meanwhile, the shadow police team has been asked to collect details of the people who have been involved in burglaries and got released from the prisons recently. The details regarding repeated offenders are also being collected. Commissioner said all possible efforts would be taken to improve the safety and security of the public.
“We already have patrolling squads and shadow police team who roam the city to identify culprits and defeat their evil designs. In certain pockets where the crime rate has increased, we are going to deploy more persons to patrol the streets,” he said.
In total, more than 100 policemen are available for night patrolling in the city limits at any particular time
In each police stations, one jeep and one bike are exclusively being kept for patrolling
City police have got 12 Control Room Vehicles that could be rushed to the spots where there are law and order issues
The City Police Commissioner’s Quick Response Team has three vehicles and enough personnel under its belt who could be used for emergency actions at any time and anywhere in the city