‘Bengaluru too big, needs 3 top cops’

Bengaluru needs three police commissionerates for effective policing as the city has grown by leaps and bounds, retired ADGP Gopal B Hosur said on Sunday.

Speaking at the launch of ‘Veerappan: Dantochorana Bennatti’, a Kannada translation of K Vijay Kumar’s book ‘Veerappan: Catching the Brigand’, Hosur said that since Bengaluru’s population had risen multifold in the last three decades, splitting the police commissionerate into three by delimitating the city was the need of the hour. “This will help control crimes, contain traffic congestion, maintain the law and order and boost intelligence gathering,” he explained.

But Hosur stressed that the three commissionerates must be allowed to function independently. The state government may appoint a chief police commissioner to monitor and supervise the activities of the three commissioners, he added.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar, who was present at the ceremony, said he had instructed deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) and police inspectors to meet visitors in their offices from 4.30 pm to 6 pm and their traffic police counterparts between 3 pm and 4 pm every day. He also announced public meetings in all police divisions, the first of which will be convened on July 15.