Senior Pune policemen now just a call away for citizens

In a bid to establish better communication between the police and citizens, Pune police has assigned mobile phones with dedicated phone numbers to senior police officials, an official said on Saturday.

Mobile phones have been assigned to five zonal deputy commissioners of police (DCPs), 10 divisional assistant commissioners of police (ACPs), who are in charge of the 10 divisions, and 30 police inspectors, who are in charge of police stations in Pune of Maharashtra.

"Zonal DCPs, divisional ACPs, and senior police inspectors, who are in charge of police stations, are officials with whom citizens, complainants and victims communicate on a regular basis," Sunil Desmukh, ACP (campaigns) said.

The objective behind distributing these handsets, with dedicated numbers, is to improve communication between people and the police, and address grievances in an effective manner, he added.

"Police officials, who have been allotted these mobile phones, will keep the handsets around the clock, and all these dedicated numbers will remain with police stations permanently, even if the officers change," the official said.