Hyderabad: Marking 2020 as the year of Covid-19 lockdown, Hyderabad floods and numerous bandobasts which replaced lathis with sanitisers, Hyderabad city police officials spoke about how the overall crime rate has decreased by 10 per cent this year. A total of 22,641 cases were registered in 2020 as against 25,187 the previous year.
The Covid-19 pandemic has posed some peculiar issues for the police, like having to play at the forefront completely unprepared, said Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar adding that our police personnel were deployed in the high-risk areas like providing security to the Covid-19 treatment hospitals, quarantine centres and containment zones, etc.
“Although the Hyderabad City Police are tasked with enforcing social distancing, the activities have been much broader. We instilled confidence in the medical staff, enabling them to discharge their duties and the police stations and checkposts have become sites of India’s public health campaign. As many as 33 police personnel have laid down their lives in the battle with the pandemic, and many hundreds have survived the vicious tentacles of COVID related health problems,” he said.
The downpour and the deluge earlier in October had tasked the police with heavy duty work and officials said that they have left no stone unturned in going that extra mile, right from alerting the river bed colonies about the imminent threat of rains, rescuing residents from waterlogged houses, to putting their own lives at risk to evacuate the stranded individuals, all the while trying to maintain Covid-19 related precautions to the best of their abilities.
“The core functions of policing such as maintenance of public order and peace, crime prevention and investigation, intelligence gathering, faster response to emergencies, improving traffic compliance, and enhancing strong relationships with local communities were not neglected during these testing times. The overall second ranking of Telangana state amongst all the 29 states and 7 UTs in the “CCTNS Pragathi for the year 2019” showcases the adherence to the quality of data entry. Technology innovation in police work has been the focal point of Hyderabad City Police, aiming at maximum utilisation of shared infrastructure, video-based systems, IT-based applications, and databases” added the official.
Mentioning the tough work and schedule the cops had to go through during the battle against Covid-19, additional CP D.S. Chauhan said that police was the common link between various departments in the city. “After coordinating with different departments and working long hours officials could not even get close to their family during such mentally straining crisis. It was an exhaustive process and our highlight of the day was when area locals provided us with tea and snacks. People understood the effort of police with the lockdown,” he said.
“While I congratulate the team for a successful year, we all will ensure that the Police Department remains approachable, friendly, and compassionate and strives to serve the Telangana Police’s larger motto of ‘duty honour compassion’,” concluded the police chief.
