With larger strength men in khaki can serve the people better in the peripheral areas of the city too.
Coimbatore city police have 15 police stations to attend to law and order-related issues and an equal number of crime police stations to detect crimes in the city. There are a couple of traffic investigation wing police stations exclusively to deal with road accidents. But, in rural Coimbatore there are close to 30 stations and each station deals with all the above said issues under their jurisdiction.
When there are instances of crime and law and order problem in an area, the same inspector has to rush to all the spots. With the available strength, it looks like the field-level officers and policemen find it difficult to handle all the issues in their respective jurisdictions. The situation worsens for inspectors when they are in-charge of nearby smaller police stations too, which are only headed by a sub-inspector.
Jurisdiction of most rural police stations is vast compared to that of police stations in the city. The population density is not high in the rural areas as in the case of the city and not all police stations in rural Coimbatore are as busy as the police stations in the city. But, officers at the police stations at Thudiyalur, Vadavalli, Sulur, Perur and Kovilpalayam that are close to the city and a few other stations such as Mettupalayam scattered in the rural areas that are buzzing with sensitive issues feel that they could serve public better with more personnel.
The police stations in rural Coimbatore have been categorised based on the sensitivity of cases and the population covered under the jurisdiction of the stations. Six stations, including three earlier mentioned, were marked in the ‘high’ category. But, these stations have not been provided with additional manpower required to suit the present day needs. They still function with the strength that was sanctioned when those stations came to existence decades ago.
(Reporting by
M.K. Ananth)
