No one checks background of cash van drivers in city

Anyone can sign up to drive a cash van that ferries crores in public money. No questions asked, and no police verification required.

The Rs 1.37-crore heist involving a security agency driver last month and the one on Saturday evening have put the focus back on how drivers are recruited for such high-risk operations. It turns out no system is in place to ensure they come with a clean record.
The police don’t verify the background of anyone unless a request is made.

However, a mechanism exists at the city police commissioner’s office to verify the background of all categories of employees, including drivers and security guards. Using it is left to the employers’ discretion.

“We are concerned with law and order, prevention and detection of crime, and regulation of traffic, and not so much with employees’ background verification. Basic policing in Bengaluru will go for a toss if we start background verification for every driver,” a senior police officer told DH.

By his reckoning, the city has about four lakh drivers and an equal number of security guards. It is mandatory only for cab drivers to get police background checks. A large number of private banks have come up in the last 20 years and entered into agreements with security agencies to transport cash.

Agreements

The agencies have further entered into agreements with other agencies for drivers. “It is high time an agency was set up to train drivers for high-security jobs,” the police officer said. Moreover, police are not authorised to monitor agreements between banks and security agencies, he said.

“We come into the picture only when an employee is involved in a crime. If a cognisable offence is committed, we act. We are not shirking our responsibility, but just stating facts,” he said.

Police also say verification of drivers is not foolproof. “We check for cases in Karnataka and issue a certificate. We can’t verify if drivers face cases in other states,” said a senior policeman. No intra-state network exists for the police to determine if the 3,500 drivers who have obtained clearance are free from criminal charges elsewhere, he said.

“Also, drivers with a criminal background know they will be filtered out during verification. Hence, they may not apply,” he said.