Dummy viewers to check IPL security

In a bid to ensure that there is no laxity on the part of private security guards during IPL matches, the Mumbai police have used an innovative way to check alertness of the guards. The police have asked the organisers to send dummy spectators and staffs in the stadium to see how alert the guards were.

According to  police sources, the police had told the organisers that they won’t be providing security within the stadium at the scale that was given in the World Cup. The communication also clearly stated that the access control and frisking would be done by the private security guards hired by the organisers.

“We had written a formal letter to the organisers asking them to send dummy spectators in the stadium, either with or without proper tickets. They were told that dummies had to carry a bag containing toy guns, copper wires and other such materials and that they should sneak in,” said a senior police official, requesting anonymity.

The official added that the communication also stated that if the person manages to sneak in, then the concerned guard should be handed over to the police for questioning. “There would be two positives from this, first, we would see whether there was any connivance on the part of guard and second, how alert the guard was,” the officer said.

The said method was enforced during the second IPL match in city. “Our men in plain clothes would be monitoring the situation along with the other policemen on IPL bandobast duty,” the officer said.