Visakhapatnam: Visible policing to safeguard city, people

Visakhapatnam: A year has just begun. Despite mounting challenges that lay ahead in terms of maintaining law and order and bringing down the crime rate, the city Police Commissioner Manish Kumar Sinha exudes confidence in making Visakhapatnam a safe place to live in.

In an exclusive interview with The Hans India, the Police Commissioner rules out the possibility of being complacent to any issue that causes inconvenience to the public.

From keeping a tab on the behaviour of the couple in the parks to cracking the whip on bike racers, nabbing the eve-teasers to controlling the growing drug menace and streamlining the traffic, Manish Kumar Sinha says that the police will keep a close watch on every issue and ensure better maintenance of law and order across the city.

Along with 3,811 police personnel, 5,000 CCTV cameras will act as an effective scanner in every nook and cranny of the city to detect crimes and bring them down. "While measures will be taken to ensure functioning of existing CCTV cameras, the count of the new ones will gradually be increased at various junctions," the CP says.

With the focus on visible policing, Manish Kumar Sinha says, the surveillance will now last for 24/7 in the city. "However, the responsibility of controlling crime rate not only rests with the police but also the stakeholders," the CP reasons.

Keeping this in view, the Police Commissioner recently launched community policing, involving auto-rickshaw drivers.

In addition, the introduction of the e-beat system, the online tracking of vehicles, aids in bringing police closer to the citizens. "The idea is to reach the incident spot in no time," elaborates the Police Commissioner.

By partnering with the Women and Child Department, Manish Kumar has brought out Disha counselling centre for 'Women in Need' (WIN). "Not many women feel comfortable approaching a police station to file a complaint. WIN aids in protecting women from a potential danger or any other inconvenience before it turns grave. The forum is receiving an encouraging response as maintenance of confidentiality is assured and most of the cases were resolved through counselling," says Manish Kumar Sinha.

A similar initiative 'pre litigation counselling forum' has also been rolled out to resolve land litigation issues. This apart, a slew of awareness programmes such as 'browse safe-be safe' on cyber crime, counselling for parents, teachers and students to place a check on drug menace are on cards. Exclusive videos were brought out by the department to reach out to the youth and dissuade them from drug abuse through 'Neti Yuvathe Repati Pourulu: Mathu Vaddu-Chaduve Muddu' platform.

In recent times, most of the cases were cracked by the city police in 24 hours. "With technology and teamwork, we are able to crack most of the cases in a few hours. Work is also shared among the staff equally so that no particular wing feels overburdened," clarifies the CP.

Apart from safeguarding the public and maintaining law and order, the focus is also on employee engagement activity. "The team's efforts during Covid times were commendable. Since prevention is better than cure, we ensured that the cops followed precautionary measures diligently and that's the reason why the department registered the highest recovery rate compared to other districts despite 698 police personnel getting affected by the coronavirus," explains the CP.

"Vizag has an image of a peaceful city. It will continue to be so with our people-friendly and visible policing," concludes Manish Kumar Sinha.