Taking a cue from the good old days of policing, the Delhi Police personnel these days are seen patrolling the lanes and by-lanes of the city on bicycles.
These smartly dressed police men are most visible in areas of Delhi University and other places of North Delhi, but they are often spotted in the narrow lanes of Old Delhi too.
In order to prevent street crimes like snatching and eve-teasing, the policemen in North Delhi are patrolling parks and market streets, which are otherwise inaccessible by motorbikes.
Eight areas identified
“Eight high-performance geared bicycles have been recently bought to patrol in eight identified areas in the morning and evening hours,” said a police officer.
The identified areas include Moat Road within Red Fort, Company Bagh area in Kotwali, Ridge area in Civil Lines, Bonta Park in Civil Lines, Delhi University area and other busy market places of Old Delhi.
Beware snatchers
Bicycle patrolling will be greatly helpful inside parks. “Snatchers target morning and evening walkers in parks. As motorcycles cannot be used in these areas, we decided to use bicycles to patrol these areas,” a police officer said.
Seniors also take a ride
Initially, only beat constables were patrolling on bicycles but for the past three to four days, senior officials have also started using the bicycles for patrolling in parks.
In Kotwali area, beat constables will patrol from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. around Red Fort, Moat Road, New Daryaganj Road, Delhi Chalo Park, Gyan Path and 15 August Park Red Fort.
Active patrolling
Though cycles were already being used occasionally in some districts, the North Delhi Police have bought these high-performance bicycles, costing Rs.10,000 each, especially for the purpose of active patrolling.
“The use of bicycles will serve more than one purpose for us. Bicycles can be easily driven into areas that are otherwise inaccessible by bikes and cars. Apart from this, cycling will keep our men fit,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma.
We have been motivating our men to use bicycles as it not only takes them to remote areas but also keeps them fit.
Reaching the unreachable
“The Walled City area has narrow congested by-lanes and going into some of the alleys is tough even by motorcycles, leave alone a Police Control Room van. These bicycles will help us reach such areas,” another official said.
