State Police Chief K S Balasubramanian IPS, has asked policemen to use video cameras and behave politely with the public while conducting traffic checks.
The statement was made in the wake of reports about the alleged harassment meted out by police personnel while enforcing traffic laws.
In the recent circular, the Balasubramanian IPS asked police to use the video equipment provided to bring down the conflict between police and public. K S Balasubramanian in his circular stated that traffic monitoring is the primary task of the Police.
While discharging these duties, the police officers are expected to conduct traffic checks at various points on the National Highway, State Highways and on important traffic points to ensure that the drivers follow all the traffic rules and regulations. The defaulters, who are caught violating traffic rules are fined or given a challan based on the quantum of the offence. “But in recent times, it is seen that this lawful duty of the Police has been distorted by various sections of the public and media to give an impression that the Police is harassing public indulging in corruption and inhumanly hunting down people who are not wearing helmets/seat Belts. “This has led to various law and order problems and even rioting in some occasions,”he said. According to him, this can be countered if a proper video coverage is done of the whole traffic checking exercise itself.
All the Circle Inspectors and most of the Police Stations have been supplied with video cameras.
“Hence from now on, it will be ensured that traffic checking is conducted under video coverage and all activities from stopping of vehicles to issue of challans are covered by the video, which can be later used to defend our actions.
“All such video recordings should be preserved, for one month, in normal circumstances. Where video recording is not possible due to practical problems and emergency requirements, traffic checking should be done in a transparent manner,” the circular said.