In order to prevent police station staff from COVID-19 infection, kiosks will come up outside 20 buildings housing law and order, traffic, cyber crime, economic and narcotic crime police stations and offices of Assistant Commissioners of Police. The grievances of people will be attended to at these kiosks, according to Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar.
The first such kiosk was opened at Urwa police station on Saturday.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Kumar said with surge in COVID-19 cases in the city, it was important to take precautions for police personnel. As many as 330 personnel tested positive last year and this led to shortfall in the workforce, he said.
Following the model of Bengaluru police, the Mangaluru city police has opened kiosks. “At the kiosks, a station house officer will attend to grievances of people. Only in case of need, the complainant will go to the police station. Thus, we can prevent all personnel at the station from getting exposed,” he said.
At the Urwa police station kiosk, a person can enter after sanitising. The station house officer sits on a table placed two feet away from the visitor. The complaint or document given by the visitor is accepted by the station house officer, who wears mask and gloves. The complaint is placed in an “UV scanner” machine and then accepted. Face masks are kept for those who do not have one. The Urwa police have made arrangements to provide ayurvedic “kashaya” to police personnel thrice a day.
“We will have such kiosks at all our buildings in the next a few days,” Mr. Kumar said. All stations have been provided with UV scanning machines and protective equipment, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Hariram Shankar.
