As uniformed personnel remain preoccupied in their fight against the pandemic, conventional policing work seems to have taken a back seat in the district.
This found reflection in the Kerala High Court recently when the District Collector in an undertaking told the court that the direction to take over the contentious church at Mulanthuruthy could not be executed as police backup was not available. The court was not impressed and sought the Additional Solicitor General to inform whether Central forces could be roped in for the purpose.
The police, meanwhile, have their prime focus on COVID-19-related activities such as monitoring strict maintenance of quarantine, contact tracing of the infected and enforcing the lockdown and curfew in containment zones, which are surging by the day.
“These are very challenging times and we are forced into a precarious balancing act. COVID-related activities indeed remain the top priority while investigation and other routine jobs are largely restricted to cases involving public safety and law and order maintenance,” said K. Karthik, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).
Heinous crimes such as murder, attempt to murder, rape, child sexual abuse, dacoity, armed robbery, accidents, house break-ins, unnatural deaths are some of the priority areas of the force outside pandemic-related activities, at least in the rural district.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to such cases, citing the fight against the pandemic since we have to comply with elaborate formalities before we can file charge sheets within a limited time. Despite reasonable safeguards, contact with the accused do expose cops to potential infections as well,” said Mr. Karthik.
For instance, personal protective equipment (PPE) has been made mandatory for police officers conducting inquests. But despite that, two officers recently turned positive.
Arrests in bailable cases have come to a complete halt and even in heinous cases arrests are being made only after consultations with DySPs concerned and the District Police Chief, if needed.
If things were already bad, then they turned worse in the last one week when torrential rain pelted the district, especially along the eastern suburbs of the district, leaving the police to open another front in the fight against floods.