The Tamil Nadu police will maintain a third of its total strength — at least 25,000 popersonnel of different ranks — as a “healthy standby force” for deployment during exigencies in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19.
The reserve strength would be under home quarantine and be available for duty, on call, round-the-clock. The move follows the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority and the Ministry of Home Affairs to all States, underscoring the necessity to have a healthy standby strength, police sources said on Tuesday.
The reserve strength would be rotated every week and personnel joining duty would be subjected to a mandatory health check-up. With hardly any public movement or traffic on the roads due to the nationwide lockdown enforced with prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, police deployment has already been reduced to the bare minimum, sources said.
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In a related development, the Chennai Police on Tuesday launched aerial surveillance by deploying drones to monitor major junctions/residential areas and intervene in the event of any public congregation.
At least a dozen drones were hired from a private firm and the surveillance launched in Guindy, Kotturpuram, Adyar and along the GST Road up to Tambaram.
“The drones provide high quality live visuals which are transmitted to the control room and senior police officers for appropriate action. We are now able to get footage of happenings in remote or congested locations that are not easily accessible. Patrol vehicles will reach any scene of disturbance or congregation in less than five minutes,” Additional Commissioner of Police (South) Prem Anand Sinha said.
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The use of drones is a temporary measure to step up surveillance and its efficacy would be reviewed after the lockdown period,