Watch out before jumping that signal or taking a wrong turn. A constable in plain clothes might be recording your every wrong move without your knowledge.
What's traffic police's new initiative?
A first-of-its-kind initiative, the traffic police department is launching a project called Operation Watch, wherein 250 constables from across 25 chowkies will be deployed across the city in plain clothes to keep a watch on errant motorists. Armed with smartphone cameras, the constables will be clicking pictures and videos of every offence on roads.
By when is it expected to be underway?
Joint commissioner of police (traffic) BK Upadhyay said constables will be trained for this in the next few weeks before launching the project in full swing from the first week of November.
What's the aim of the project?
"Our idea is to discipline motorists and catch them unawares. Our constables do not man roads and junctions between 10pm and 8am. We are planning to deploy constables in plain clothes during this time and in those areas where there are no constables to man traffic during peak hours," Upadhyay said.
According to the traffic police, the initiative, once rolled out on full scale, will help discipline motorists as they will think twice before violating rules even if there is no uniformed policeman around.
How will it be done?
The traffic police chief said, "We will be sending them (the constables) with smartphones. They will stand across junctions to watch out for offenders. No spot fines will be issued. They will record the violation, along with registration number of the vehicle and photo of the violator, on the phone camera. Once the violation is recorded, we collect all the data and examine it from our control room. We will immediately get details of the motorist from the RTO after which a challan will be sent to his/her address."
What do the police say?
"People tend to disobey rules when there is no monitoring. Once they receive the challan in their homes, they will be left wondering how they were caught. When they realise that they can be caught and booked without a uniformed policeman around, they will not attempt to break the rules. This initiative will go a long way in curbing traffic offences in the city," said Upadhyay.
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