By far, denizens of Ranchi have complained of suffering at the hands of petty criminals as they gave law enforcement agencies the slip, courtesy the time taken by police to arrive at the crime scene. Well, not anymore, assure the beat officers.
Sub-Inspector Praveen Kumar Sinha said, “Cases of traffic rule flouting, hooliganism and gathering of anti-social elements have been brought down recently. There used to be rampant cases of eve-teasing around schools and colleges, even in our own backyard. Situation has changed after beat officers began patrolling areas infamous for eve-teasing around educational institutions.”
Only eleven days since its inception, beat policing has made its presence felt in the area under Kotwali police station, where it began from. Dividing the jurisdiction in 22 beats and appointing police constables as beat officers, one for each beat, has made the watchful presence of police forces more pronounced in the city.
“Even the presence of a policeman is enough to deter any criminal from committing a crime. One of our men being present at critical and crime-prone spots of the city has discouraged criminals from acting out like they used to in times of their absence. This one change that has been observed prominently by us,” stated Sub Inspector Ravi Kishore Prasad, AOR Officer of Kotwali PS.
The most significant change has been in control of crimes of lesser degree, possible due to constables present at spots to prevent them or tackle the wrongdoers.
Chain and mobile snatching had become routine occurrences in the city. Snatchers used to flee the scene and victims had to run from pillar to post to get their valuables back, often in vain. But this can be a thing of past soon.
“let me recount an incident. Recently, one of our beat officers came across a rag-picker trying to snatch a mobile phone while its owner was attending a call, and instantly seized him. This saved the mobile-owner from becoming a victim and the annoyance that would have followed. Being present on the spot can help in stopping the crime as it is happening,” stated Sinha.
“Our response time has been almost halved as we can get ground report from the crime scene. Our beat officers convey the exact location of crime scene or criminal and the best way to approach them. Thus, we can now plan more efficiently to resolve a crime and nab the criminals,” Prasad said.
Knowing their assigned areas and profiling it is also part of the beat officers’ duties. A beat book has been given to all beat officers for recording the details of their beats.
Kotwali OC Vijay Kumar Singh assured that the beat officers are very particular in updating and maintaining their beat books and a database of the collected information is being kept in the police station itself.