Bengaluru cops get 222 high-tech Hoysala patrol vehicles

High-tech Maruti Ertiga Hoysala patrol vehicles that can reach crime spots quickly would be inducted into all police commissionerates in the state.

“The concept behind buying the new Hoysala patrol vehicles and equipping them with modern gadgets connected to a command centre is to be ‘first and fast’. The government has allotted 222 such patrol vehicles for Bengaluru,” Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters on Saturday, after flagging off the patrol vehicles along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others in front of Vidhana Soudha.

The government will buy 200 more such patrol vehicles for Bengaluru city besides 1,000 patrol bikes under the Mega City policing and police modernisation scheme.

The police will now be able to reach crime scenes or trouble-hit areas in the quickest possible time. These vehicles will not be used for any other purpose but patrolling. “It is a new beginning for the Bengaluru city police under the police modernisation scheme. This is the first step towards making Bengaluru a safe city,” he said.

There will be effective policing and patrolling in rural areas and on Bengaluru city’s outskirts once the ongoing work to reorganise police jurisdictions is completed, he said.

Regarding extention of timings of eating joints in Bengaluru city, he said the government responded to the demand of the corporate world. “The government permitted eating joints to operate till 1 am on Saturdays and Sundays in the past. This proved to be a success and no untoward incidents were reported. Hence, a decision was taken to allow them to operate till 1 am in Bengaluru,” he said. To a question, the Home Minister said: “People can reach out to senior officers quickly through social media. The social media will soon be used effectively in all other commissionerates in the state.”