With just 600 personnel for a city with a population of 6.42 lakh, it is a wonder that the Noida police has been able to bring down crimes in the satellite city of Delhi. Or so it claims.
“We are not saying that street crimes have stopped, but we have been able to reduce the numbers with better patrolling. The number of calls to the 100 helpline has gone down in the past two years,” said Noida Superintendent of Police (City) Yogesh Singh.
The police have identified 82 vulnerable spots and ramped up patrolling in these areas. Apart from that, they have proposed an infrastructural revamp, recently approved by the Uttar Pradesh Government.
The city police force is now waiting for the Rs.200-crore funding from the Noida Authority. The plan includes five new police stations, 50 more PCR vans and an integrated control room. The upgrade is long overdue.
“We currently have 39 PCR vans for Noida city. With the new project, we are looking to add 50 PCRs and Leopards [motorcycles] immediately,” said Mr. Singh.
For an area that spans 203 square kilometres, 39 PCRs and 122 CCTV cameras may sound woefully inadequate when compared to the neighbouring Delhi. But, police officers point out that the comparison is unfair as Noida is just one city in the State and cannot compete with the Capital in terms of law and order spending.
Delhi has a force of over 85,000, which responds to helpline calls in three to four minutes. Despite the Noida police being stretched thin, Mr. Singh said they are able to ensure a response time of five to seven minutes.
“We get 1,000 calls every day, of which 60-70 are actionable. We make sure we address these complaints,” he added.
Police officers here are hoping that the integrated control room, which is likely to come up in Sector 14 or Film City, can bridge the gap. A similar one-stop command centre is almost ready in Greater Noida. Mr. Singh said 25 new surveillance cameras will be installed soon in the first phase of the project, under which an intelligent traffic system will also be installed, provision of issuing e-challans made and breath-analysers procured.
“Given that the force here is already fighting an uphill battle, it is fortunate that the Chief Ministers never visit citing a ‘curse’ that says they will be unseated if they did. Can you imagine what will happen to the 600 cops if Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav decided to pay a visit?” remarked a cop in jest.
