Bengaluru: Upparpet police revive short IDs for autorickshaws

Reviving an old practice, the Upparpet police are planning to make it compulsory for autorickshaws in their jurisdiction to register with the police and get short identification numbers for easy detection process, in case of any incident.

Autorickshaw drivers in the Upparpet and Cottonpet police stations have been instructed to visit their nearest station, enroll their vehicles, and get a shortened registration number. This, police believe, will help them maintain a database about the autorickshaws in their jurisdiction. The number given by the police would be stuck to the autorickshaw in bold.

A senior police officer in-charge of the Upparpet and Cottonpet divisions told DH that the initiative was aimed at making it easier for passengers to remember the autorickshaw number instead of long registration numbers, in case of any emergency.

He said: “With the area being the primary public transport connection point in the city, the cases of thefts, robbery, missing persons and harassment are very frequent. Hence, it will be easy to identify, in case of an emergency."  

As a pilot, the project was launched on December 1, 2023, and police have been instructing all autorickshaw drivers in the jurisdiction about the same.

As of January 28, the Upparpet police station has received over 300 registrations and the Cottonpet police station 250 registrations, the officer said.

A similar method is used by the traffic police, but the practice is not so popular. The law-and-order police believe that this will help strengthen policing and trace culprits quickly in criminal cases.