Disaster management has become a big part of the Telangana police’s responsibilities in the backdrop of the spread of COVID-19. Besides standard operating procedures, the police department has come out with a ‘Reference Handbook for COVID-19 Policing’.
The reference book (a copy of which is in possession with The Hindu ) stresses the need for an inter-departmental COVID-19 committee or task force in each district to perform executive functions regarding virus management and containment to handle a likely ‘second wave’ of infection. “As the regular work of the department must also be resumed, officers for the committee must be exclusively deputed,” it stated.
Policing priorities will continue to be management of the pandemic, and there are multiple possibilities of how the infection could spread across the population until a vaccine is available, stated a high-level committee constituted under the chairmanship of Additional DGP (Law and Order) Jitender.
Police officers were told that routine vehicle checks should be avoided and traffic duties should be limited to important and busy junctions. Each officer must obey and follow all social distancing and safety norms, it said.
The book also stated that arrests in bailable cases should be avoided.
