UT has revived age-old police beat system… only on paper

When the beat system was revived in the city in May this year,senior police officers including Chandigarh Inspector General of Police P K Srivastva had visited houses in Sectors 4,8,15 and 24 and ensured the residents that beat policemen would be visiting them regularly to improve police-public relations. “But I have not seen such a thing happening yet,” added Sidharth.

Another city resident said that he had seen the beat policeman once in the past three months. “The beat policemen had visited my house in connection with the verification of my son for his passport. After that,I have not seen them,” said Sector 23 resident Jagdhish Lal.

“Police-public liaison is crucial for eliminating crime and there was a dire need to improve the police force’s relationship with the public as well as its image. So the beat system was revived,” explained a police officer.

UT SSP Naunihal Singh said,“It is because of these beat policemen that we have completed a huge backlog of complaints against cops registered by residents. These policemen are also doing every kind of verification by visiting the houses,” he added. “But,yes,they are not able to visit every house as we have a staff shortage. By the end of the year,I hope that these beat policemen will be able to visit every house.”

No house-to-house visits in Panchkula

In urban areas of Panchkula,it is the in-charge of police posts who run the beat system. It is claimed that they do not intend to make house-to-house visits like in Chandigarh. However,they regularly liaison with market associations,resident welfare associations (RWAs) and petrol pump associations.