Chennai: Being a cop no longer accords immunity from being booked for helmetless riding in the City as the top cop is trying to enforce discipline among the khaki-clad force by calling for reports on cops who are traffic violators. As a result, over 200 cases of helmet-less riding were booked in a span of 2 weeks against cops serving in the City and other special police units.
Sources said that a specific instruction came from the City Police Commissioner S. George after it was brought to his notice that traffic sergeants were being subjected to undue pressure from higher cadre officers not to book their subordinates caught riding without helmets.
Until two weeks ago, the City's traffic enforcement wing, which has 23 units in north zone, 31 units in south and 24 units each in west and east zones and 102 units in all, had been booking nearly 6,000 cases per day at nearly 300 vehicle check points across the City.
The trouble they faced was the interference from superior officers. The top cop had sought the details of such cases with all data including the service register number of the traffic-violator cop and as this news trickled out among the senior cops, they stopped recommending the traffic cops to let go their men and women caught for violating the helmet rule.
The current norm is that the violator will have to either hand over the bike or the original document and whichever is confiscated will be released only on the production in a mobile court of a receipt for the purchase of a new helmet. This came into vogue following a High Court directive, and had been enforced with vigour by the traffic cops. The compliance ratio among two-wheeler riders in wearing helmets has improved to 85 per cent now from 60% two weeks ago.
