Bengaluru traffic police start punishing the bad apples

The Bengaluru traffic police are finally punishing their bad apples who are harassing the public in the name of traffic enforcement.

Over the past few weeks, the BTP has taken disciplinary action against 37 of its personnel for failure to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in traffic enforcement.

Citizens have been complaining on social media about various forms of harassment employed by the traffic police. These include arbitrary towing of vehicles, random checks without any visible traffic violation and penalising drivers over high-security registration plates.

The traffic police bosses appear to be taking notice of these complaints and punishing the errant officers.

In September, disciplinary action was taken against 29 traffic police personnel for violating towing and other traffic enforcement procedures. Another eight officers were penalised this past week in October for checking vehicle documents in the absence of any visible traffic violation.

In September, among the 29 officers to be punished were 17 police constables, eight head constables, three assistant sub-inspectors and one police sub-inspector. Suspension was one of the many forms of disciplinary action these officers faced.

The BTP also suspended 32 towing vehicles and permanently took eight towing officials off duty.

Speaking to DH, B R Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), asked vehicle drivers to intimate the higher authorities if any traffic police officer stops them for a random document check. While the traffic police are conducting special drives to collect pending fines from vehicle drivers, Gowda clarified that the exercise is carried out only during lean hours (non-peak hours).

“If there are no pending traffic fines, vehicle drivers are free to go. But if there is any, then the vehicle document verification will take place even if there was no visible traffic violation at that particular time,” Gowda said.