The City Police have created eight new flying squads and 12 mobile patrolling units to strengthen its night vigil. Headed by an Assistant Commissioner, the squads will work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
In support of the main squads, 20 patrolling jeeps and 20 motorbike squads too will be in the filed during night. Every night, one of the 10 Assistant Commissioners attached to the City Police will take the responsibility of coordinating the night patrolling team.
“In the revised patrolling plan, our city will get better police cover even in remote locations,” says P. Sasikumar, Assistant Commissioner (Crime Detachment), who temporarily holds the charge of Janamaithri Suraksha scheme.
Mr. Sasikumar says the new plan comes into effect on the basis of instructions from Director General of Police (North Zone) Rajesh Dewan and District Police Chief (Kozhikode city) J. Jayanath.
“Till recently, we were depending on a skeletal staff to complete the task and that too with a minimal number of patrolling vehicles,” Mr. Sasikumar adds.
e-Beat system
The new night patrolling plan will also have an effect on the conventional beat patrolling conducted by local police under the community policing programme.
Arrangements are in place to replace the conventional beat registers in all locations with the new e-Beat system, which will work on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards. On completion of the technical works, the beat patrolling officer will have to carry the RFID reader to cover all locations under his jurisdiction marked with RFID tags.
Complete shift
“The main feature of the RFID-enabled patrolling is that the higher officers can closely monitor their teams and track even minor duty evasions. It will also make the policemen more accountable,” says Mr. Sasikumar.
With the completion of the RFID tag installation, the city will completely shift from the conventional system of maintaining paper records for marking patrol duty details, he adds.
