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| Edited By: dna Correspondent |Source: DNA |Updated: Aug 10, 2019, 05:30 AM IST
Sanjay Barve, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the 1987 batch, took charge as Mumbai’s police commissioner in March this year. Barve was part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that investigated Abdul Karim Telgi’s multi-crore fake stamp paper scam. He was awarded the President’s Police Medal in 2006. Taking centre stage this week, Barve stressed on curbing cyber crime, maintaining law and order and range of crimes plaguing the city.
You are pitting 55,000 of my men against this large populace and saying that the ratio of of population vis-a-vis police is insufficient. I don’t think we are against or pitted against these 1.4 crore people, instead we are with 1.4 crore people. These people 99.9% of people are law abiding. People of Maharashtra by tendency, by habit, by ethnic behaviour are largely law abiding and the city being the economic hub is entirely driven by those who are working or have migrated here to find work. People are occupied with their work, their livelihood and bettering their lives and hence the question of confrontation by and large doesn’t come up. These 55,000 people are required to regulate. It is just like maintaining traffic.
Traffic has to flow and no one wants to stop. The duty of the traffic police is to regulate errant behaviour. Out of 36 lakh vehicles there are about 200 cases in a day, so the percentage is miniscule. With technology being infused in the working of police and the governance, this ratio can be brought under control.
I was a part of the team that handled the 26/11. And pre 26/11 the scenario was very different, the senior police officers were neither prepared nor equipped to handle fully trained, armed terrorists using high trajectory weapons. Civil police were neither trained nor equipped to deal with enemies; enemies of the state, enemies of the nation who are armed, fully equipped and who came from across the border with an intent with disrupt it with heavy machinery and heavy equipment.
Second difference was about advanced intelligence. Now there is a huge amount of co-ordination between agencies, central and state, we all meet together, exchange our inputs and do whatever is necessary in the interest of the safety and security of the people of this city. Creation of Force 1 is the third major difference. A force that is in the terms of capacity, in the terms of training and equipment, it is the best in the world. So the city can respond on it’s own. Every police station also has got an anti-terror unit. Some people collect intelligence, some pass it on and some act on it. This didn’t exist before. There is a qualitative difference in terms of response and perception of the people too.
After Kasab was hanged people of Mumbai didn’t allow him to buried here. So it was not like people were against us. In that whole attack people were with Mumbai police. People of Mumbai and other fellow Indians were almost on a standstill for a day or two, but things were back to normal within 48 hours. City police and NSG were handling it at four isolated places. But the city had started moving and the wheels of economy and progress had not halted. We all speak of this resilience but it is much more than resilience. It is a response.
There are some auto-generated answers. We have set templates to answer questions that are frequently asked, like in case of traffic, electricity or neighbours fighting over doors, or children fighting. We try to give the number of officers who can be contacted in case of traffic issues. We pass the complaints to traffic department, and ask them how many messages were acted upon. We question the officer in-charge about the vehicle wrongly parked at a certain location for seven days, and why is it still there? Generally within a day’s time it is lifted. We try find out the owner, because an abandoned vehicle is a risk, we don’t know what it contains, what is the purpose. The handle has helped, and it acts as a bridge.
Also, if people have grievances against us, or are angry, we are ready to take it.
The odd-even number plates was tried in Mumbai in the past. However, what we found that people started buying two vehicles, with odd and even number plates. The remedy became dangerous than the disease. So this is not a solution.
Congestion tax is levied in many cities across the world like Singapore, London etc. But Singapore has shown the way ahead. There, unless you have a parking space you cannot buy a vehicle. Moreover, registration number of the vehicle is auctioned which gives a boost to the revenue while the number of car buyers go down. The auction makes car an expensive proposition. So public transport becomes easier and cheaper proposition to ply. Both the suggestions are tried and tested formulae in the world. But then in an aspiring country, where people want to grow, there is a natural aspiration in people to buy a vehicle. They cannot be told that city cannot accommodate anymore vehicles and so they cannot buy one. These conflicting interest needs to be balanced in a public discourse or governance.
Now that metro rail lines will be opened up in next 2-3 years, it would solve traffic issues. Metro rail de-clutters the city. For this to be implemented properly, there needs to be proper car park, so that anyone coming to a metro station, can park the vehicle outside the station. It has to be worked out with a foresight.
Interpersonal skills are developed over a period of time. A young sub inspector who is a station house officer, in an age group of 22-35, I don’t expect him to be adept at interpersonal skills.
Inhouse training will also help us in doing this. Also people hesitate before coming to a police station, they first try and solve the matter amongst themselves, this again is ethnic, there is a fear, people have apprehensions like, what will happen, will there be a record maintained, will I get a visa for travelling abroad. There is no record for complainants.
When someone posted at an authoritative level, the temptations are higher. Putting a person’s liberty in jeopardy is the authority law has given you. There will be people trying to tempt you, but most of my men do not fall into that trap. I have headed the anti-corruption department also. We have seen people trying to make a quick buck by bypassing the law or offering favours that are not necessarily legal. Either do what is not required to be done or not do what is required to be done. In both the cases corrupt practice creep in.
Our policy is of zero tolerance to corruption. And if people report corruption, it is very seriously looked into. People who indulge into it or show proclivity towards corrupt practices are also earmarked and posted in such places where they will not have public interface. Once the authority is gone, the opportunity is gone. With better service conditions, better education, these issues will certainly get resolved over a period of time. It does not happen instantaneously.
When I was a joint commissioner of traffic police in 2009 we started with 100 cameras in the city. They were installed on the major junctions to lookout for those violating traffic. Now the city has more than 5,500 cameras, and will be adding another 5000 cameras in the coming six months.
There is a gradual reduction of crime in the city. Street crimes has also come down.
We are in a typical island situation, where it is practically impossible to load more space. Ten years back the number of vehicles were 1.8 million, and today the number has increased up to 3.5 million. The number of vehicles are doubled and roads are limited. It is not possible to create new stretches or roads in MMR or Mumbai city. Due to the influx of vehicles, the average speed have gone down too. There are many who park haphazardly in public places. This leads to traffic congestion. If people park in proper manner, the speed limit can be improved.
With regard to the monsoon, potholes are a problem. The speed of the vehicle goes down and there are instances of breakdowns. Early morning, our Twitter handle gives out information on traffic situation in different areas, the areas that are affected by flood, waterlogged areas etc.
However, once the season is over, roads are repaired and things come to a normal. Mumbai has a lot of discipline as far as driving is concerned.
Most of the houses are very old and some of them are in dilapidated conditions. These were built during colonial time. The large number of our police force stay in far off suburbs like Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Murbad, Dombivali, Thane, Titwala etc. Its more than two-three hours of daily commute. Besides, they are on duty going from one place to the other. There are no fixed work hours. So providing them houses within the city limit will make it convenient for them. There should not be more than 30 minute travel time from residence to workplace. So the policemen can perform better at work and can give quality time to their families and own recreations. Keeping these things in mind, we had proposed redevelopment of our colonial residential buildings. We want to provide them 500 sq ft carpet, 2BHK houses so that the family of that particular police man lives comfortably.
We are trying to remove the encroachment and reclaim our land. We have enough land and space to meet the demand of Mumbai police.
After taking over the charge, I got the list of the plots owned by Mumbai police. In some cases, the documents were incompletely filled or the ownership details were not registered. These things have been taken care of. In some cases the leases have to be renewed, that process is also completed.
The rate of attrition in police force is above 3.5%. So in the organisation of 55,000, about 1,700 are either not on duty due to retirement or other reasons. This year the recruitment was slightly delayed because of the elections. We will give out advertisements so people get to know, and adequate time will be given for people to respond. It may take time, but these vacancies will certainly be filled up.
Internet crime or financial offences by use of the internet in various modes offline or online are increasing. Many are unaware and do not know how to use the internet effectively and safely. This being previewed, a lot of education is required to be decimated amongst people for safe use of internet. Presently we have one cyber crime station, but we have cyber trained officers in all police stations. People should have functional, effective, technical knowledge, that will yield better results.
Rather than policing every corner of the city, what is of paramount importance is educating the mass. It is not only about children going to school but also about the workplace. A lot of these incidents are reported against those at authority level. Crime against women or children is more of an attitude issue and not the issue of criminality. Attitude towards women, attitude towards the opposite gender needs to be changed. Equality is easier said than done, it needs to translate into reality. Ethos has to be changed, and this can be done by the corporate heads of every organisation.
Schools and colleges are already doing it. Children coming up from coeducational schools have a better understanding of talking to each other and do not make much of the differences between a male and a female coworking with him. For example, some constables coming from the rural part of the state are not exposed to working with women. In certain schools, girls and boys sit in different rows/sides in rural areas. Many of them do not even talk to each other as it is considered a taboo. Proper understanding with education can change people’s perception and attitude. Social media has exposed people to various platforms. One can approach anyone out there. For example, in case of a friendship request, many misunderstand the acceptance of friendship as an acceptance of a person, and that creates a problem.
Many times a complainant is unaware about the missing phone. If the complainant has IMEI number, then it gets easier for us to trace the phone. So locating lost or stolen mobile phones is no more difficult in presence of technology.
There are 94 police stations in the city and we receive more than a 100 mobile phone missing complaints daily. It means per police station one case minimum.
LAW AND ORDER
| Traffic Issues | Terrorism | Cyber Crime |
|---|---|---|
| Ten years back the number of vehicles were 1.8 million, and today the number has increased up to 3.5 million | Creation of Force 1 was brought in a major difference. In terms of capacity, training and equipment it is the best in the world. So the city can respond on it’s own | Internet crime or financial offences by use of the internet in various modes offline or online are increasing |
| Due to the influx of vehicles, the average speed limit has gone down too | Every police station also has got an anti-terror unit. Some people collect intelligence, some pass it on and some act on it | There is one cyber crime station, but there are cyber trained officers in all police stations. |
| There are many who park haphazardly in public places. This leads to traffic congestion | Crime against women is more of an attitude issue and not the issue of criminality. |
