Miscreants trouble women cops with late-night calls

BENGALURU: In a bid to connect police and the public, Tumakuru police recently erected flex boards which had names, photographs and contact numbers of local police and beat officials who could be contacted during emergencies. Unidentified miscreants have been bothering women cops (whose numbers are listed on the boards) by calling them up at unearthly hours.
"Men are calling women cops late at night and talking nonsense. Sometimes, the caller gets abusive and throws a tantrum at women police officers if they object," police sources said.
"The women complained at a meeting where lower-level police officers meet seniors and share their grievances. These are called vertical meetings. Some women officers from Tumakuru and nearby jurisdictional stations told us they get calls from strangers in the night," Tumakuru police said.
As a result, it was decided that photographs of officers should be removed from the beat flexes. "Keeping mobile numbers intact, their pictures should be removed. Thus the public will not have an idea whether the number belongs to women or men," read the circular issued by Tumakuru superintendent of police Divya Gopinath. TOI has a copy of the circular.
Seemanth Kumar Singh, Range IG said henceforth such unwarranted calls will be scrutinized and action will be taken against miscreants. "There are incidents where unidentified miscreants harass police officers working in control rooms. It has come to our notice that these persons misuse the system and frequently call women cops. We will not suspend this citizen-friendly system because a few persons misuse it," he said.
Divya Gopinath said they'll put up more flexes in the near future. "The public should know who to contact during emergencies. We are also updating our police website, so that people are aware of the happenings in their district," she said.