All 241 Hoysala police patrol staff in Bengaluru are now armed with weapons

The Hoysala teams have been upgraded, with new officials of the rank of Inspector and above having to go on compulsory patrol duty to understand the system and supervise better

The Hoysala patrol vehicles have been fitted with advanced wireless system, while the staff have been provided with first-aid box, body-worn cameras and reflective jackets to improved the performance. | Photo Credit: SREENIVASA MURTHY V

The recent attempted robbery and shoot-out at a jewellery shop in Kodigehalli and the quick action by the Hoysala team has revealed how the staff had been upgraded with training skills and armed with weapons to handle any eventualities.

City Police commissioner B. Dayananda said that all the 241 Hoysala teams have been upgraded with the Head Constable to Assistant Police Sub Inspector as patrol officers, along with training to handle the situation with arms. The Police Sub Inspectors will have to replace the ASI as patrol officers in case the latter is not available for duty.

The Hoysala staff in both the shifts have been trained on how to tackle different situations tactically instead of the conventional way of visiting and reporting the incident to the jurisdictional station.

Reduced response time

Elaborating on this, Mr. Dayananda said that the ASI and officials above the rank are equipped to handle the situation better and more responsibly in tasks ranging from talking to the complainant, responding and decision-making. Due to this, the response time has been reduced to 7 minutes, he said.

New body-cam along with fingerprint scanner given to the Hoysala Police patrol squad. file photo | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

“Arming the staff and training them accordingly is need of the hour in the present crime scenario of the city. In addition to this, the PSI and above officers and even the night beat constable have been made to carry the arms compulsorily. This is part of the uniform and they must carry the weapons,“ Mr. Dayananda said, adding that the night beat constables have been given pump action rifle which is more effective and advanced than the conventional 303 rifles.

The beat constables have been ordered to pick up the weapon and drop it at the station compulsorily so that they could brief the station in-charge. This is to make them come to the station on regular basis without fail, Mr. Dayananda added.

Mandatory patrol duty

Apart from upgrading the Hoysala vehicle with advanced wireless system, provision of first-aid box, body-worn cameras and reflective jackets to the staff has improved the performance of the patrolling team effectively, he said.

The new officials of the rank of Inspector and above have been asked to go on patrol duty compulsorily to understand the system. This will help them to supervise in a better manner, he said. The ACP in-charge of the Hoysala vehicles has been asked to inspect the vehicles on a regular basis to keep them fit and fine.

Reacting to the new beat system, a police officer part of the Hoysala team called it “a challenging task”. “The officer in-charge has been burdened with loads of work with high expectations,” he said.