Kathmandu, June 18

The Metropolitan Police Office has come up with the concept of ‘mobile police beat’ amid increasing demand for police presence in various areas of the capital and lack of adequate human resources to set up temporary and permanent beats.

According to the MPO, the ‘mobile police beats on wheels’ was introduced from Jhonchhe with the posting of four cops commanded by an assistant sub-inspector. The four-wheeler mobile beat will be relocated to new areas every one week as per the local demand and security challenges. “We have launched the mobile police beat on a trial basis and we plan to further expand it to other parts of the Kathmandu Valley,” said Police Commissioner AIGP Pratap Singh Thapa.

The non-motorised mobile police beat has been designed in a manner to ensure its mobility and is equipped with beds. It can accommodate four persons at a time. The Valley boasts of a population of 2,515,023 as per the 2011 census and mobile population of over four million. The ratio of police staff to population currently stands at one per 414 people. The Valley has a total of 11,872 police personnel with more than 3,000 serving as reserved cops and 1,000 as traffic police.  The mobile police beat is expected to be effective in controlling social crimes in the metropolis.