Well-trained and equipped teams of Organisation for Counter Terrorist Operations (OCTOPUS) and National Security Guard (NSG) are deployed at centrally located places in the city. Still, the city is not 100 per cent secure from terror attacks.
“But these commandos cannot prevent a terror strike. A worrying point is the low awareness levels among other stakeholders like private establishments in preventing such possible attacks,” admits a top city police officer unwilling to be quoted. Initiatives of police to make the city secure, like attempting to bring entire city under surveillance of high-quality cameras, surely enhanced the safety level vis-à-vis the situation a few years ago.
The government liberally releasing funds to purchase a fleet of modern vehicles too improved their mobility and response time. “But that alone cannot guarantee safety of city. At malls and multiplexes and religious places witnessing huge congregations of people, security standards are abysmally low,” observe policemen at the field level.
Bus stands, malls and theatre complexes are classic example. The door frame metal detectors are namesake.
The guard in uniform rarely bothers to keep an eye on suspects. Many of them are not adequately trained to identify suspects or keep tab on suspicious objects.
During random security checks, persons of Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force managed to freely go inside malls or theatres while keeping firearms or explosive substances inside their clothes.
Earlier campaigns to enlighten citizens on the need to be vigilant were taken up on a massive scale.
Slowly the campaigns were withdrawn.
