The creation of an additional sub-division, Ernakulam Central, within the Kochi City police limits, thus taking the number of total sub-divisions to four, is expected to ensure better policing and law and order maintenance.
The newly formed sub-division accounts for seven police stations — Central, North, Mulavukad, Kadavanthra, Elamakkara, Cheranalloor, and women’s police station — under a separate Assistant Commissioner. The Elamakkara police station was previously under the Thrikkakara sub-division.
“The creation of a new sub-division helps reduce the span of control of each Assistant Commissioner by bringing down the number of police stations under their jurisdiction, thus facilitating superior quality of policing and enabling them to spend more time on each police station and each case. It will also make them more accessible to people at the police station-level. The basic logic is that the creation of every new police station or sub-division should effectively reduce the size of jurisdiction,” said C.H. Nagaraju, District Police Chief (Kochi City).
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The reconfigured Ernakulam sub-division now comprises South, Palarivattom, Maradu, Panangad and Habour police stations of which the Harbour station was previously under the Mattancherry sub-division.
However, it is being pointed out in certain quarters that the bifurcation putting seven stations under the jurisdiction of the Central sub-division and five under the Ernakulam sub-division amounts to unequal distribution of workload. “For instance, the Central station alone accounted for the registration of as many cases a year as the five stations under the Ernakulam sub-division clubbed together. At least one station should have been taken away from the jurisdiction of the Central sub-division,” said police sources.
However, Mr. Nagaraju pointed out that the number of cases was only one of the factors considered in the creation of a sub-division by bunching together some heavy and relatively lighter police stations. “Geographical contiguity, law and order status, presence of vital installations, frequency of VIP movements, and major arterial roads are also considered in the creation of a sub-division. Besides, the number of police stations alone is not an indicator of the hectic nature of work. For instance, a sub-division with four stations may be far more hectic than one with seven stations,” he said.
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The Thrikkakara sub-division now has seven stations — Thrikkakara, Kalamassery, Infopark, Hill Palace, Ambalamedu, Udayamperur, and Eloor — and the Mattancherry sub-division has five stations — Mattancherry, Palluruthy, Fort Kochi, Thoppumpady, and Kannamaly.