KOZHIKODE: Ego issues and lack of coordination between the shadow police team and regular policemen has become a problem for the city police chief.
The shadow policemen, deputed to track hardcore criminals and organised crime gangs, failed to avail the help of their counterparts in uniform due to ego issues.
Shadow policemen have been attacked in the city on several occasions when they try to take drunken men and anti-social elements into custody.
Shadow policemen try to pick up these anti-socials in their civilian clothes and get easily attacked.
This continues to happen despite a standing instruction from the city police commissioner that they should not try to pick up trouble makers themselves and should take the help of local police.
“The policemen deputed in the Shadow wing are all youngsters and think they can handle everything on their own. The CoP had told them clearly that they should either inform the local police station, Control Room or the nearby patrol vehicle or seek their help. But that is never followed,” a senior police official said.
City police sources say that they also request the seniors not to press charges against their tormentors and request that cases be dropped even when they get badly beaten up.
“Though they are young and energetic, they do not want to encounter any future trouble. Though we take strict action when any sort of violence against policemen is reported, the victims themselves want the charges to be dropped. Now policing has become just another salary earning job and nobody wants any trouble in future,” the official added.
He said there was no way shadow policemen could be protected from such attacks, unless they stopped interfering directly with the culprits.
“They should understand that without a uniform, they are equal to any other person in the public. Drunken men and anti-socials attack anyone who tries to intervene, unless it is someone in uniform. So shadow policemen have to take the help of their uniformed colleagues to save themselves,” the official added.
