BENGALURU: Restructuring of the Bengaluru Police Commissionerate (BCP) is on the cards with the objective of splitting into more manageable units to improve administration and assure quality policing.
“The two aspects that are being kept in mind for restructuring BCP are geographical contiguity and that each unit should have adequate manpower and infrastructure to monitor and timely respond to any adverse situation, which will require an emergency response,” said sources. “There are three to four models under consideration. One is to split the city into two- East and West zones, with East comprising the new area- the IT corridor stretching from the airport to Electronic City.
West zone will comprise the north, south and central divisions. The other thoughts are to restructure it along the Outer Ring Road; or on the lines of Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) or to have the centre as the core and split it along the peripheral and newly added police stations,” said sources.
“Splitting the city into different heads- law and order, traffic, crime, etc will create confusion and lead to turf war. Reforming it on the lines of GBA will not be judicious either. It will lead to fragmentation and dilution of police authority,” they added.
Restructuring of BCP, now spread over around 1,000 sq km with 118 police stations, has been under consideration for a long time, but now, with the expanding city and burgeoning population, it has become a necessity. Bengaluru is the only remaining metro in the country which has not yet redesigned its police commissionerate despite being the nerve centre of India.
Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, with his vision of improving the city infrastructure and providing better administration, is keen on redoing the city police architecture. Out of the 188 police stations, 117 are for law and order, 53 for traffic, 9 for cyber and economic offences, 8 are women police stations, and one is for the Central Crime Bureau (CCB).
There are currently 26 Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs); 11 in law and order, 4 in traffic, 4 in City Armed Reserve (CAR), 2 in crime and the rest are posted for control room, command centre, intelligence, VIP bundobast and administration. With growing urbanisation and following demands, police stations in peripheral areas are periodically being added to the BCP, which has made it unwieldy and impossible to administer.
“Total strength of BCP is 25,000, out of which around 1,800 are sub-inspectors and above. There are around 4,000 existing vacancies in the city, mostly constables, head constables and PSIs. While adding new police stations to the city from the suburban areas, the expectation is to provide quality policing at the level of city police. The ratio of police-population is poor,” sources said.