‘Mock drill’ leaves some top cops frowning

Officers cite lack of coordination a reason for the fiasco

Monday’s ‘mock drill’ at the Police Headquarters (PHQ) here has left a few top-rung city police officers frowning over what they term lack of coordination among the force that, more than anything, has put the career of a security officer in jeopardy.

The mock drill, or what it was later announced to be, had begun around 3 p.m. on Monday when the City Police Control Room received a call from a mobile number, stating that there were bombs planted in the PHQ and that they would go off at 4 p.m. The message was passed on to higher-ups in the City police and the mobile number was noted in the register at the control room.

The Cyber Cell, after it turned out that the call was a hoax, was called in to trace the mobile number, which led the police to Biju, a security officer with a Kazhakuttam-based private security agency.

Biju, during the subsequent interrogation, told the police that he had never made the call and inspections of his mobile too confirmed the same, a senior police officer said.

There was no record of any call made to the control room on his phone or of any such call being deleted later, the official said.

The BSNL now had been asked to verify how Biju’s number came on the caller identification facility at the control room, he said. Meanwhile, the security agency suspended Biju, pending inquiry.

Embarassment

With top State police officers maintaining that it was a mock drill and that it would be verified how Biju, knowingly or unknowingly, got involved, City police officers feel that such embarrassment, and the predicament that Biju is in now, could have been avoided had there been more coordination.

“He might not lose his job, but an entry in the control room register has been made and his name has to be cleared properly, which is why the BSNL has been asked to verify what happened – whether it was some software issue that caused his number to be recorded or whether there was some mistake while entering the number in the register. If it was a mock drill, at least the City Police Commissioner could have been informed,” a senior official said, on condition of anonymity.

The mock drill also saw a bomb squad and fire engine being stuck in the traffic while on their way to the PHQ.