Bengaluru: Bye Bye dummy cop, we aren't scared of you

Bengaluru: Mannequins dressed up as traffic police were a common sight on the roads in the southern city of Bengaluru.

Dressed in police caps, white shirts and brown trousers, and wearing sunglasses, the mannequins are often spotted manning the congested junctions. But a year after experimenting with the mannequins, the Bengaluru police are gradually taking them off the roads as have failed to serve the intended purpose.

In November 2019, the Bengaluru traffic police came up with the mannequin idea to curb traffic violations. The mannequins have been outfitted with police uniforms, reflector jackets, boots, hats, and masks to make them resemble real-life policemen. The mannequins were put up at several junctions which initially acted as a deterrent to traffic violators. The dummy cop idea was the brain-child of former police commissioner Bhaskar Rao who was replaced by Kamal Pant. A senior police officer requesting anonymity said, "The mannequins were intended to instill a sense of fear of the police in the hearts of traffic law violators. We are now rethinking on continuing with the dummy police personnel as they have ceased to serve the purpose. It was intended to put the traffic in order.

Earlier, people took the dummies as real cops and used to wear their helmets at traffic junctions, drivers fastened their seat belts and stopped using mobile phones while driving as they spotted dummy traffic police from a distance. However, now everyone knows about these mannequins. During the pandemic, we are using our mobiles and cameras to capture the violators and penalise them rather than stopping them on the road," the senior police officer said. With the onset of monsoon, the mannequins are getting damaged due to the incessant rains and thereby getting difficult for the real cops to manage the 'dummies.'