Policing: Dr G for European model; hi-tech Hoysalas to patrol Bengaluru roads

Bengaluru: All policing in the state, covering  law and order, traffic and coastal patrolling,  appears to be in for a makeover with  the state now looking for answers to Europe to bring some order into the affairs of its cities and tighten coastal security.

If all goes well, Karnataka may follow a European model of traffic management, take the help of  the Bavaraian government to improve policing in its cities and borrow teaching methodologies from a Bavarian police academy to make its own police force more efficient.

Concerned by the increasingly unmanageable traffic in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mangaluru, the government is considering  adopting an European module of traffic management, going by Home Minister, Dr G Parameshwar.

Pointing out that European cities were themselves moving towards a new module of traffic management as it was proving to be more difficult by the day even in their countries, he told reporters on Friday,  “We too are seriously considering adopting the same module.”

Observing that the Bavarian capital of Munich had been named the world’s safest city, especially for women, children and the retired, he revealed Karnataka  had signed an MoU with the Bavarian government in Germany for technical expertise to improve policing in the state.

“There will be multiple exchange programmes between Karnataka and Bavaria, where the police is known to be  people-friendly and involves all the stakeholders, including citizens, in maintaining law and order. The Bavarian police meanwhile is interested in how we handle cyber crime  and manage crowds,” he explained.

The minister said he was particularly impressed with the  Bavarian police’s interaction with school children as it helped develop a bond between the law men and the citizens. “A private survey found that the acceptability of the police in Germany is 87 per cent, while it is only 14  per cent for politicians. The police training college in Bavaria is very  good too as it has created over 85 models of crime and law and order situations to train the police in handling them. Such models could be introduced in the police academy here ,”  he added.

Disclosing that the state government planned to set up a coastal police academy over 25 acres in Udupi , he noted that the regular police currently being appointed to the coastal units were not trained for swimming in the ocean or handling other work specific to their area of operation. “So now we intend to make separate recruitments for the coastal police and  train them at  the academy,” he said.

Hi-tech Hoysalas to patrol city roads
The city police have come up with a new patrolling model and as part of it 222 hi-tech Hoysala vehicles will be functional from Saturday. Addressing a press conference on Friday, Police Commissioner N. S. Megharikh said the police had adopted the new patrolling system in the city. “The Hoysala patrolling vehicles were introduced in 1997 and they were controlled by the police stations. In the new system, 222 Maruti Ertiga vehicles are being introduced. They will be monitored and controlled from the Hoysala control room attached to the Command Centre, which works as centralised unit for monitoring complaints received at the control room and social networking sites.”

“In the old system, the patrolling vehicles used to move around in their jurisdiction. That system will continue for few more months. The new vehicles will be given six designated spots and they will not leave until a message is passed by the Command Centre. Whenever there is an incident, the nearest Hoysala vehicle staff will be alerted and they will rush to the spot. They will leave the crime spot only after the jurisdictional police reaches,” Megharikh explained. “Each vehicle will be given six designated spots and they will change them every four hours. However, the frequency of incidents in a particular area will decide their location,” Megharikh added.