Bangalore Police : Your friendly neighbourhood cop will now take complaints at your door

To aid those who hesitate to approach the police with a complaint, Bangalore police has decided to arrive at the doorstep.

A new beat system was launched in north-east division on Sunday, as a first step to making the police more approachable.Constables will be on beat duty on day and night shifts, and the new system hopes to incorporate the support of citizens too to help prevent crime.

The beat system, which had gone out of favour for a decade, is now being revived. Policemen from respective jurisdictional police stations will be made in-charge of streets.

“The policeman on duty will be responsible for maintaining law and order in his area. The police will have a network, and all the people in the area will be part of the system to better maintain law and order,” said city police commissioner BG Jyothi Prakash Mirji, adding that the new system would increase the responsibility of the police.

Members of the public in each locality would be expected to get in touch with the beat constable about any suspicious activity.
“When crime in each street is controlled, then the whole city will be peaceful,” said Mirji. He said that the residents would be involved in the vigilance maintained by the police.

Members of the public suggested that the night beat constable be armed with a rifle, as there were cases when the culprits assaulted policemen.

Police also hope that the beat constable would be able to resolve family disputes.

The city police commissionerasserted that members of the public should inform higher authorities if they face harassment at the hands of policemen or if they find the cops unwilling toregister complaints.

“My phone will be switched on 24 hours. We will take necessary steps to ensure that incidents of harassment do not get repeated. But the public should also treat policemen as human beings,” said Mirji.