The City police, taking a leaf out of the relief operations during the Noveber 14 Chala fire accident, have drawn up a strategy to ensure swift action in case of untoward incidents in the future.
The strategy was chalked out during a meeting convened by Police Commissioner H. Venkatesh. It is intended to tackle ‘any type of disaster’ and aims at a responding to a situation in 15 minutes, during which the local station house officer, Circle Inspector (CI), and Assistant Commissioner (AC) have to reach the spot to initiate the rest of the operations.
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A crucial part of the entire strategy, apart from the quick response time, is crowd control.
“The problems caused by crowds that gather to see what is happening are many and can slow down relief operations, which was one first-hand experience that the fire accident at Chala gave us,” Mr. Venkatesh told a meeting with traders of Chala here recently.
As a result, the first officers to reach the spot, after informing the control room, will have the job of cordoning off the area.
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Evacuation of people, clearing routes, and setting up one-ways to ensure swift movement of fire engines and ambulances will also be their job with the AC (control room) and Commandant (armed reserve camp) to oversee these functions.
ACs of Traffic and CIs are to mobilise extra men to the spot to ensure proper crowd control, ensure smooth traffic, and to find alternative routes, if necessary.
The AC (control room) will set up a mini-control room in the area to ensure seamless information flow to the District Collector and other higher officials.
Mini-control room“The media and public representatives too will be given information from this control room. Presence of mediapersons and public representatives among the crowd was a hindrance in initiating action against those who created obstacles at Chala by shooting the proceedings on their mobile phones,” Mr. Venkatesh said.
Identifying and removing/blocking potentially dangerous elements in case of communal riots, prevention of robbery and looting, and setting up police pickets in surrounding areas too are part of the strategy, which in short, reiterates the role of the police as the nucleus of relief operations in emergencies in the city.