Pune: The Pune city police have implemented a mandatory helmet rule for police personnel following orders from the state director general of police (DGP) office.The state DGP office issued a circular on Friday directing all police personnel travelling on two-wheelers to wear helmets while riding. The order noted that, except in Mumbai and Nagpur, police personnel in other parts of the state often do not wear helmets.In Pune as well, police personnel frequently ride without helmets. The Pune city traffic police have now begun enforcing the helmet mandate among their staff.“Police must lead by example. The helmet rule has been implemented for all police staff in the city,” said deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Himmat Jadhav.He also appealed to citizens to report if any police personnel are seen riding without a helmet.“We are encouraging citizens to take photographs of police personnel not wearing helmets, along with the registration numbers of their two-wheelers, using the Pune Traffic Police (PTP) application. We will take strict action against violators,” Jadhav added.The police also plan to use CCTV cameras to identify and penalise police personnel not wearing helmets.The Pune traffic police also distributed helmets to their personnel. “We will fine all police personnel, including constables and officers, if they are found riding without helmets,” Jadhav said.Several police stations have also distributed helmets to their staff.The directive follows a review meeting held by state DGP Sadanand Date in Nagpur earlier this month. During the meeting, he observed that very few police personnel were wearing helmets while riding and raised concerns about low helmet usage among the force across the state.
