Cops bank on civil defence to cover ground they miss

NEW DELHI: With the 26/11 anniversary just a few days away, the police have stepped up the security in the city. The cops have already spent a tense festive season after “credible” intelligence suggested that several men from the Indian Mujahideen and the LeT were trying to set up base in the city.
Police have completed the security audit of the 400 “sensitive” buildings and over 300 markets.Some of these documents run over 100 pages each even as a detailed localized plan is being worked out to secure these places.
“This time round, we are collaborating with corporates and RWAs and are carrying audits of even multi-storied buildings which house private offices. Once we complete the auditing, we will discuss security loopholes and ways to plug them with the administration and building owners. Earlier, we undertook this exercise in malls and markets, but now we need to look beyond them as these buildings also host a large number of people daily,” said a source.
“We will have the highest possible deployment in the city. Besides the 10,000 men on road, we will have QRTs stationed outside the malls and other vital installations,” said a senior cop.
He added that since the cops will not be able to cover the length and breadth of the city, they have asked the help of the civil defence volunteers. “We have already deployed 7,000 of these volunteers. We have been meeting mall owners and asking them to install cameras and record everything.”
The cops said the first thing that was done as part of the rigorous exercise was to find out the reaction time to a threat by the inhabitants of the buildings. “We put up dummy bags to see if anyone detects them. Based on it, we are analyzing the dos and don’ts for the particular building,” said an officer.
The special branch has also recommended that the Eyes and Ears Scheme should be implemented with earnestness and all the stakeholders must come together to prevent any terror attack.
Police have also intensified checking at border points of the national capital. Each police station ATO (anti-terror operations) has been put in charge of sensitizing the shop owners about their role in countering terrorism.