More than 13,470 people have registered to volunteer as civil police wardens with the Bengaluru Police, to assist in regulation and anti-COVID measures, said an official on Friday.
“We are proud of Bengaluru and every Bangalorean. A call by the Commissioner of Police for civil police volunteers and we are overwhelmed with the response,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Hemant Nimbalkar.
He said 13,470 citizens, who care for the city, have registered to fight COVID shoulder to shoulder along with the police and called the response an unprecedented civic movement.
The volunteers registered from the eight divisions of the city. Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said the volunteers were doing outstanding work.
“Outstanding work being done by the overwhelming number of Bengaluru civil police volunteers, they are unsparing. Policemen have become law-abiding citizens,” said Rao.
On Tuesday, Rao had urged interested people to volunteer for the department, indicating how short-staffed the department has been amid the pandemic.
As some people were misunderstanding that the voluntary work would be a paid duty, Rao later clarified that people volunteering as civil police wardens with the city police department will not receive any remuneration.
Incidentally, people from as far as Ramangara, Tumkur and other districts have also applied, but the department is considering only volunteers from the city as they want people with local geographical knowledge.
The volunteers will accompany the policemen in night patrolling, man check posts, answer questions of the general public, and assist station house officers.
They are also required to assist in documentation and computer work at the police station level, enforce social distancing, and wearing face masks among the public.
As many as 100 volunteers were used in the Bengaluru South division on Thursday night for barricading, patrolling, and assisting the policemen.
On Thursday, Bengaluru reported more than 2,000 cases with 2,344 infections, raising its tally to 25,288, out of which 18,828 are active.
Being the epicenter of the pandemic in the southern state, Bengaluru hosts 61 percent of all the active cases.
Bengaluru is currently under COVID lockdown till July 22, 5 a.m.
