Believe it or not, the Commissionerate police, which are now well-equipped with a modern control room and more than 30 police control room (PCR) vans fitted with the GPRS system, have a response time which is slower than the pizza delivery boys.
It might be mentioned that most of the pizza companies guarantee to deliver the stuff faster than the “guaranteed half-an-hour” in any part of the city. And in most of the cases, they prove it right.
Presently, the city police take more than half an hour or more to reach a crime spot when a distress call is made. In comparison, in the country’s capital New Delhi, the police have a response time of 10 minutes while in Mumbai it is around seven minutes.
High Court lawyer Subrat Nanda says the Bhubaneswar Commissionerate police (CP), which have the motto of “We care, We dare”, should reach the crime scene before the current response time of 30 minutes to earn the faith of the people.
“The CP should be concerned over the response time of the police team in reaching a crime spot. Police will have to earn public faith that they are always there for the people in need .Mere sloganeering isn’t enough,” Nanda says.
Notably, earlier most of the police stations in the State capital had a single vehicle each. If the vehicle was engaged in some duty, police personnel had to wait for it to reach the crime spot or, otherwise, they rushed to the spot by their bikes. But now, it is not the case. Most of the police stations have now a vehicle for the Inspector-in-Charge, and also one or two PCR vans are at their disposal according to sensitiveness of the police station and the area in its jurisdiction.
Refuting the charge, a senior police official on condition of anonymity said, “The response time varies because the area of jurisdiction of a police station varies. For example, the Capital police station has a smaller area under its jurisdiction than the Khandagiri police station. Whenever we get a distress call or a call from the modern control room, we respond to it immediately. “
But a senior citizen alleged the PCR vans are most of the time parked near a ‘friendly’ teashop or adhaba, banks or liquor shops. Sometimes, one would see PCR van personnel dozing under the shade of a tree. When asked, they often say sufficient amount of fuel is not allotted for patrolling.
Most of the PCR vans which were donated by the Nalco and other corporates have become rickety with worn-out tyres, and one cannot expect them to reach in time. Either they should be replaced with faster-moving vehicles or overhauled, said the senior police officer.
However, inside sources say the PCR vans have mostly Home Guards and an SPO, who is a retired police or Defence personnel. The Home Guards are paid a paltry Rs 200 per day and the SPO about Rs 10,000 per month.
Besides, most of the PCR personnel are unarmed and even do not carry lathis. How can one expect them to control a violent mob or the goons who now move around with sophisticated mousers and are trigger-happyIJ So, it is no surprise that PCR personnel are reluctant to take the challenges head on and the PCR vans have of late turned into ambulances, say intellectuals.