Trilokpuri lessons: Smarter resource mobilisation, community

The Trilokpuri clashes have stressed the need for Delhi Police to streamline resource mobilisation process in such situations and to engage with communities at the grass-root level to defuse tensions before they spiral out of control.
After assessing the problems they faced while dealing with the situation in Trilokpuri including the constraint to deploy a large number of policemen in the affected areas that too for seemingly longer durations, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi has introduced a new resource mobilisation protocol.
According to the new protocol, personnel attached with any unit or at any duty can be asked to rush for field duty in an emergency situation almost immediately.

"The protocol has different levels - from CD-1 to CD-9. Here CD stands for Contingency Drill. CD-1 means 10 per cent force of the unit has to be moved to tackle the emergency situation while CD-2 means 20 per cent and so on," said a senior police officer.
"Under the new system, personnel deployed in specialised units like Special Cell and Crime Branch and those working with assisting units like Traffic, Special Police Unit for Women and Children or Security can be extracted for law and order duty and deployed with local police even if that means completely shutting the department for a while," the officer said.

Similarly, it would also apply to the 11 districts. For example, if there is an emergency in the jurisdiction of one police station and CD-3 is invoked, then 30 per cent force from all other police stations of the district will be rushed to the area where a trouble is brewing.
On an average, a police station has 150 to 200 personnel, some are on patrolling duty, some are on beats, some are on desk, drivers, etc. All of them can now be called on field duty at a short notice. Even those on leave can be summoned, the officer said.

As many as 19 people, including 13 policemen, were injured in the communal clashes that began after two groups of people pelted stones at each other on Diwali evening.