Cops to re-introduce 'Police Volunteers' initiative in city

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: After initiating a 'Student Marshals' strategy to keep a tab on the drug menace here, the City Police Commissioner announced his decision to re-introduced the police-public beat system to combat rising cases of house break-in thefts, robbery and vehicle theft in Bengaluru.

Previously the police in the city had appointed volunteers from among the residents who assisted the beat policemen curb theft and robbery cases.

The volunteers conducted awareness programmes educating fellow residents on how to safeguard themselves against chain-snatchers and other miscreants.

Several volunteers and residents, through their sheer presence of mind, helped the cops nab accused involved in theft and robbery cases.

Speaking at a policepublic discussion held at Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said, "The implementation of a volunteer beat requires public cooperation, so as to solve cases of robbery and burglary at night. There were such initiatives earlier under different names, but were stopped owing to misuse of the initiative," he said.

However, despite intensified patrolling and installation of high-tech CCTV cameras, the city continues to witness an uptick in robbery, phone snatching and theft cases.

According to the data released by the Bengaluru Police this year, a total of 12,627 criminal offences were registered in 2023, of which only 3,603 cases were detected. There was a 41% rise in robbery cases in 2023.