The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Election, additional burden for men in uniform?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 18, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Election, additional burden for men in uniform?

Priority will be for policing sensitive and vulnerable places, says P. Oppili

Policing the massive Greater Chennai police district is indeed a daunting task even during normal times. Come elections, the police force have the additional task of maintaining tranquillity and act in an unbiased manner, especially in the face of the Election Commission's recent directives to the law and order machinery. Is the election duty for police a burden?

During election times the police role gains primacy which cannot be overstated. Election duty has three phases - pre-poll, polling day and post election work. This includes attending to cases before the elections, providing security to booths and the electorate, who come to cast the votes; and after elections the force needs to safely transport the ballot boxes to counting centres and maintain vigil.

A Deputy Commissioner of Police says that at least six months before the elections, the men in uniform start the work of identifying the vulnerable areas - where trouble is anticipated before the elections. The pre-poll observation definitely helps them in providing better security on polling day, he notes.

This time around the assessment work started at the end of January itself, said another officer.

After the assessment, the city police provide data to the government for deciding on whether or not to seek the help of the para-military force for the election work.

Next to the local police, it is the para-military force such as Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) plays a vital role in providing security during elections. At the Mount Abu Training Centre of the CRPF, a special course is being offered, which provides training on election duty. Some of the local police personnel also sent there to undergo training, say the officials.

During elections three important aspects would be given priority - visible policing in the places where booths are located, continuous patrolling in sensitive and other areas and active policing.

The election time has both brighter and flip sides too. Due to visible policing the occurrences of routine crimes will come down during electioneering period. The presence of police on every road or in a public meeting will deter the criminal from operating in any residential locality, say the officers. The flip side - investigation of cases will be slowed down. During election time, the priority will be accorded to election related cases, which in turn force the other regular crimes cases to the back burner. The regular crime or other cases will get secondary importance only, the officials add.

Already an election cell has been created, which will attend to complaints pertaining to the candidates of various parties, the authorities added.

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