From time immemorial, the police force is used to “marching beats” during day and night hours to prevent crimes and to curtail the movement of criminals and suspicious characters.
Using the time tested methods of marching beats, the Coimbatore City Police have evolved another system that will be in place very shortly. To combat the growing incidents of burglary, City Police Commissioner A. Amalraj has evolved a new system that will not only help crime prevention, but also enable the police bridge the gap with the community by befriending people living in the area.
Under the new system, 44 beats have been identified to be marched by police personnel in 15 stations across the city. There will be four people in each beat and two will be in the designated locality during the day while the other two will be there during peak hours and night.
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The unique aspect of this system is that the personnel will be dedicated only for this purpose and will not be drafted for any other duty except in the case of emergency.
The dedicated deployment will help the police establish a bonding with the public of the locality.
Apart from policing, they will co-ordinate between the public and other government departments to sort out issues such as non-removal of garbage, blocking of drains, erratic water supply and power failures. This will help quell any unrest at the initial stage and avoid protests, the police point out.
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The police have planned to put up boards containing the photographs of the personnel and their contact numbers in each area to help residents know them.
Reporting by
V.S. Palaniappan