Revamped police beat system involving citizens helps curb crime

A majority of police stations in the city that have adopted the re-introduced beat system proposed by the state police chief based on the award-winning model in Belagavi have scripted a success story.

After the reorganisation of a few police stations on  the city’s outskirts, beats were revamped with beat policemen selecting members for each beat depending on its size. Beat members range from school/college students to senior citizens, resident welfare association presidents, members of youth wings, software engineers and women’s association members etc. Beat policemen are in constant touch with these members over phone, WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms like Facebook. Meetings are organised with beat members at least once a month to review their plans on prevention and detection of crimes. The re-introduced beat system was further enhanced by the arrival of the new fleet of 272 Ertiga Hoysalas, including the Pink Hoysalas.

For example, the Jnanabharathi police station serves a population of around three lakh. The police station has 35 beats with 35 beat policemen who have each selected 30 members for their individual beats. Beat members at Jnanabharathi range from Bangalore University students to senior citizens who are in loop with the police. “Jnanabharathi was a hub of chain-snatchers before, but with the new beat system, we have curbed it to a major extent. In 2014, there were 30 chain snatching cases. In 2015, 20 were registered. When the beat system was gradually pushed in with vigour in 2016, chain-snatching cases reduced to nine in 2016. In 2017, after the revamp of our beat system, we have only one chain-snatching case which also has been detected,” said Krishna K L, police inspector, Jnanabharathi police station.

“With this beat system, the police not only feel their work has becomemore effective and easy, but they have also developed a bond with the citizens, building the police image with three Cs – Care, Compassion, and Courage,” said DCP West division, M N Anucheth.

Some laggards

The new beat system is yet to catch up at a few police stations in commercial hubs. The Halasuru Gate police station has 18 beats where the beat policemen are unable to function according to requirements as they are deployed for security duty most of the time. “There are at least two protests a day in our jurisdiction where most of our men are deployed,” said a policeman requesting anonymity.

Citizens made aware

C Gangadhar, a senior citizen and a beat member, told DH, “My job is to interact with my fellow senior citizens and ask them to report any suspicious activity to me or the police.” The beat system helps in local intelligence gathering and eases the police job of detection and deterring crimes. This system has made citizens aware of crimes and the need to be alert and report suspicious activities, he said.