Bhopal police claims to 'have control' with 100 patrolling cars

BHOPAL: With 100 patrolling cars, including 50 first response vehicles Bhopal, Police claim to have effective control of the city. But citizens say patrolling needs to be more intensive to rein in crimes against women.
The basic aim of patrolling is to visit areas repeatedly to reassure residents and scare away trouble makers. During patrolling, police visit their areas not to respond a specific call, but to see whether everything is all right.It's a way of maintaining visibility, increasing interaction with citizens, preventing crime, and bring about a sense of security.
But what the city cops lack is manpower. Police sources say they don't have enough boots on the ground for effective patrolling, or even staff the patrol cars.
"Patrolling in the jurisdiction of a police station is only done at night. There is no day patrolling. A team of four-five, including the driver, goes out on patrol. Often, some members of team are in no condition for the duty but are sent out any way," said a constable on night watch.
"We do go out for patrolling on bikes as well, but two people cannot control crime in a large area. Even four cannot. We try to do our best with whatever we have but can do better if our strength is increased. Many police men who joined the force are deputed at the houses of ministers and bureaucrats. If we are given enough staff we can patrol teh city more efficiently," said another policeman.
A source in police department informed, "Day patrolling doesn't happen in city as there are first response vehicle at various places. But the thing is that they respond only after they receive calls. If a college girl gets harassed by miscreants, they will not even come to know till they receive call. But if a regular patrolling is done outside colleges, such miscreants will think twice before harassing girls."
According to reserve inspector Vijay Kumar Dubey, there are around 100 vehicles assigned for patrolling in the city. First-response vehicles are permanently stationed at particular locations and work in shifts of eight hours each. Every police station has at least one four-wheeler and 2-3 two-wheelers for this.
But because of shortage of manpower, policemen at the lower level ioften end up doing duty for 16 hours.
Bhopal also has Nirbhaya patrolling mobile to stop crime against women. But in some cases the brief was exceeded when they indulged in moral policing and started detaining couples sitting in park.
When asked about patrolling in city, inspector-general of police Yogesh Joshi said, "There is no scarcity of patrol vehicles and they are all doing their job. There are more than 40 first response vehicles which can reach a scene of crime in just five minutes. This is in addition to traditional patrol teams of local police stations. Soon, we are going to introduce 'Dial 100' motorcycles which will go into lanes and colonies for better policing."